GANT v. McCARTY

Citation Codes

Equivalent Citations

citation codes

Docket Number

6 Div. 922.

Attorney(S)

Walter S. Smith, Rosenthal Rosenthal, and Walter S. Smith, Jr., all of Birmingham, for appellants. When a bill of petition seeks to establish a specific construction on which its equity and the asserted rights of complainant or petitioner depend, the validity of such construction may be tested by demurrer. City Bank Trust Co. v. McCaa, 213 Ala. 579, 105 So. 669; 69 C.J. 889, § 2040. A bill, an original bill in the nature of a cross or supplemental bill, or petition in equity will not lie to construe an unambiguous will. Hoglan v. Moore, 219 Ala. 497, 122 So. 824; First Nat. Bank v. Sheehan, 220 Ala. 524, 126 So. 409; Upshaw v. Eubank, 227 Ala. 653, 151 So. 837; Birmingham T. S. Co. v. Cannon, 204 Ala. 336, 85 So. 768; Hinson v. Naugher, 207 Ala. 592, 93 So. 560; Gunter v. Townsend, 202 Ala. 160, 79 So. 644; Kaplan v. Coleman, 180 Ala. 267, 60 So. 885; Clay v. Gurley, 62 Ala. 14; Cowles v. Pollard, 51 Ala. 445; 69 C.J. 888, § 2034; 3 Pom.Eq.Jur. § 1064. Necessity for such construction must be shown. 69 C.J. 888, § 2033. A party is not entitled to intervene in equity unless he has an interest in the subject matter of the suit. Greene v. Greene, 220 Ala. 395, 125 So. 640; Curtis v. Curtis, 180 Ala. 64, 60 So. 167; Ex parte Gray, 157 Ala. 358, 47 So. 286, 131 Am.St.Rep. 62; Ex parte Printup, 87 Ala. 148, 6 So. 418; Dodd v. Deepwater C. I. Corp., 233 Ala. 392, 171 So. 732; Spence v. Spence, 239 Ala. 480, 195 So. 717. Brown Bell and Hugh A. Locke, all of Birmingham, for appellee. An administration proceeding is an entire proceeding taken altogether. Hinson v. Naugher, 207 Ala. 592, 93 So. 560. A person named as devisee or legatee or beneficiary in the will is a party to the administration. Code 1940, Tit. 61, §§ 33, 52, 181, 246, 247, 298; Baker v. Bain, 237 Ala. 618, 188 So. 681; Bromberg v. Bates, 98 Ala. 621, 13 So. 557; Burch v. Gaston, 182 Ala. 467, 62 So. 508; Kirkland v. May, 233 Ala. 668, 173 So. 10, 11. A devisee or legatee may file bill to construe will. Hinson v. Naugher, supra.

Judges

BROWN, Justice.

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GANT et al. v. McCARTY.

BROWN, Justice.

Neither the order of the circuit court, sitting in equity, overruling the motion to strike, nor the order overruling the demurrer to the petition of Blanche K. McCarty, is within the statute authorizing appeals from interlocutory decrees. Code of 1940, Tit. 7, § 755; Montgomery, Superintendent of Banks, v. Jefferson County, 228 Ala. 568, 154 So. 785.

Nor is the appellant or petitioner here entitled to the writ of mandamus. The only question presented is the right of the petitioner to file the petition, and the sufficiency of the petition to invoke an interpretation of the will raised by motion to strike, and demurrer. She is named in the will, at least as a contingent legatee, and is a proper party to the administration proceedings and is entitled to file such petition and have her rights determined by the circuit court on a hearing on pleadings and proof. The substituted petition to that end is sufficient.

It is well settled that the court should not proceed with the construction of the will on a hearing on demurrer. Ashurst et al. v. Ashurst, 175 Ala. 667, 57 So. 442.

Appeal dismissed; mandamus denied.

GARDNER, C. J., THOMAS, and FOSTER, JJ., concur.

GANT et al. v. McCARTY.

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