Succession of Heckert
Louisiana Court of Appeal
160 So. 2d 375 (1964)
Facts
John E. Heckert, Sr., and Anna Buch were married and jointly owned 1,010 shares of stock in S. H. Kress and Company. When Anna died, John inherited 505 shares of the stock as an owner and held a usufruct in the other 505 shares. John and Anna’s children, John E. Heckert, Jr., and Isabelle Heckert Hardie (plaintiffs), were the naked owners of the 505 shares subject to their father’s usufruct. John Sr. eventually remarried, at which point the usufruct over the 505 shares ended by law. John Jr. and Isabelle, however, did not reclaim the shares from John Sr. at that time. John Sr. died, and his widow Eunice Heckert (defendant) was his executrix. During the succession of John Sr.’s estate, it came to light that John Sr. apparently had given 300 shares of the Kress stock to Eunice and sold or disposed of 410 other shares. John Jr. and Isabelle sued Eunice, claiming that John Sr. had not been entitled to gift or dispose of any of the 505 shares of the stock that was subject to the usufruct. Eunice claimed that an accounting of the usufruct property was prescribed because more than 10 years had passed since her marriage to John Sr. had ended the usufruct. The trial court held for John Jr. and Isabelle, and Eunice appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (McBride, J.)
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