Sutton v. English

Citations

• 246 U.S. 199
• 38 S. Ct. 254
• 62 L. Ed. 664
• 1918 U.S. LEXIS 1533

Syllabus

<p>In a suit in the District Court to set aside testamentary dispositions and adjudge the property to the plaintiffs and partition it among them as heirs, a defendant who, being also an heir, would share in the relief if obtained, should not be aligned as a plaintiff for the purpose of testing jurisdiction by diversity of citizenship, if such defendant be adversely interested as legatee.</p> <p>Under constitution and statutes of Texas, the county court has no equitable jurisdiction of a suit inter partes to annul a disposition in a will and partition the property among the plaintiffs as heirs where title to land is involved and the amount in controversy exceeds $1,000.</p> <p>Under the constitution of Texas, the District Courts of the State have no jurisdiction to annul by an original proceeding the action of a ■ county court in probating a will; and a suit under Stats.- Art. 5699 to contest the validity of a will so probated must be brought in the county court and calls for an exercise of original probate jurisdiction.</p> <p>A suit which, in an essential feature, is a suit to annul a will, and which under the state law is in character merely supplemental to proceedings for probate and cognizable only by the probate court, is not- ' within the jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States though diversity of citizenship exist and the requisite jurisdictional amount be in controversy.</p>