Estrada v. Reed

98 S.W.2d 1042
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 16, 1936
DocketNo. 4662
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 98 S.W.2d 1042 (Estrada v. Reed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estrada v. Reed, 98 S.W.2d 1042 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

N. Estrada, the appellant, instituted this suit in the district court of Brazoria county against the appellees, the Federal Land Bank of Houston, Texas (herein styled the Bank) ; Hiram Moore (herein designated as Mr. Moore) ; and Mrs. Lou A. Reed (herein called Mrs. Reed), individually and as survivor of the community estate of herself and her deceased husband, W. F. Reed.

The purpose of the suit is to recover title and possession to certain lands situated in Brazoria county, though the action is not in the form of' a suit in trespass to try title.

There are three separate deeds of trust, and a separate sale under each, involved in the litigation. The deed of trust to the Bank is dated May 20, 1918, and executed by W. F. Reed and Mrs. Reed to secure the Bank in the payment of the sum of $10,000. This deed of trust will be hereafter referred to as the “Bank deed of trust,” and the sale thereunder as the “Bank foreclosure.” The deed of trust dated April 12, 1929. [1043]*1043was executed by appellant to Louis H. Follett, trustee, for the benefit of W. F. Reed and Mrs. Reed, and this we shall refer to as the “first Reed deed of trust,” and the sale thereunder as the “first Reed foreclosure.” The deed of trust dated in April, 1933, executed by appellant to Louis H. Follett, trustee, for the benefit of Mrs. Reed, and the sale thereunder, are herein designated as the “second Reed deed of trust” and the “second Reed foreclosure.”

The appellant for his cause of action pleads as follows :

That Mrs. Reed and W. F. Reed, on May 20, 1918, borrowed the sum of $10,000 from the Bank, gave their note therefor, and executed and delivered to H. M. Gossett, trustee, their deed of trust covering certain real estate in Brazoria county consisting of approximately 841 acres to secure the payment of said note.

That on January 5, 1927, W. F. Reed, by his proper deed, conveyed to his wife, Mrs. Reed, the land covered by the “Banh deed of trust,” and on April 12, 1929, Mrs. Reed, joined by her husband, conveyed the land to the appellant by warranty deed. In consideration therefor he assumed the payment of the $10,000 owing to the Bank, and gave two notes, each in the sum of $2,706.54, payable to Mrs. Reed and W. F. Reed, and executed for their benefit the “first Reed deed' of trust” to secure the payment of said notes.

That appellant defaulted in the payment of the notes due Mrs. Reed, and W. F. Reed acting alone requested Louis H. Fol-lett, trustee in the “first Reed deed of trust,” to sell the land under the provisions thereof. The trustee declined, and W. F. Reed, without the joinder of his wife, on March 4, 1932, appointed E. C. Evans as substitute trustee under said “first Reed deed of trust,” and requested him to sell tfie land by virtue of the powers given therein. On the first Tuesday in April, 1932, E. C. Evans, as such substitute trustee, sold under the “first Reed deed of trust” and conveyed the land to W.. F. Reed on April 5, 1932.

That the “first Reed foreclosure” was null and void because the real estate covered thereby was the separate property of Mrs. Reed, and the notes executed were payable to her and W. F. Reed and secured by the “first Reed deed of trust” executed for the benefit of both of them, and, since Mrs. Reed did not join in the appointment of the substitute trustee, nor in the request for the “first Reed foreclosure,” such sale was void and a fraud in law upon the wife, Mrs. Reed.

That due to his mistake of the facts and law in believing that Mrs. Reed had title to the property by virtue of the “first Reed foreclosure,” the appellant accepted her warranty deed dated April 16, 1933, conveying the land to him, and gave his three notes payable to her, each for the sum of $500, which he secured by the “second Reed deed of trust” on the property, and Louis H. Follett was named as trustee-therein. That appellant defaulted in the payment of said $500 notes, and Mrs. Reed requested the trustee to sell under the “second Reed deed of trust,” and upon his refusal she appointed J. B. Jackson as substitute trustee, who, upon her request, sold and conveyed the property under the “second Reed deed of trust” to Mrs. Reed.

That Mrs. Reed had no title to convey to appellant at the time she executed to him the second deed to the land since the “first Reed foreclosure” was void, and as she had theretofore, joined by her husband, conveyed the land to appellant, the execution of the second deed by Mrs. Reed and the execution of the $500 notes by appellant were without consideration and void, and said transaction was a nullity.

The appellant then pleads the “Bank foreclosure” under the “Bank deed of trust” through a substitute trustee, A. C. Williams, by G. A. Bart, agent and attorney in fact, through which the land was conveyed to the Bank by trustee’s deed on December 8, 1934, and on February 4, 1935, the Bank conveyed the property to Mr. Moore.

That the “Bank foreclosure” was void because W. F. Reed was at the time thereof deceased, a joint owner and maker of the “Bank deed of trust,” and the notes secured thereby, and Mrs. Reed had, on March 2, 1935, made application for letters of administration upon the estate of her deceased husband, which administration, though dormant, was still pending. That the “Bank foreclosure” was also void because the sale failed to comply with the requirements of the statute of frauds in sales made by a trustee under a power of sale under mortgages.

That after the commencement of the administration proceedings, Mrs. Reed filed suit in the district court of Brazoria county against the Bank and Mr. Moore in a suit in trespass to try title.

[1044]*1044The appellant in his pleadings tendered the indebtedness he alleged to be due Mrs. Reed and the Bank against the property, and asked judgment vesting title to the property in himself.

The court sustained a general demurrer for each of the appellees and dismissed the case, from which action appellant appealed.

Under the facts alleged the land involved became the separate property of Mrs. Reed, subject to the debt of the Bank, when conveyed to her by her husband on June 5, 1927.

“The effect of the husband’s deed to the wife, whether the subject of the conveyance be his separate property or the community property, is to constitute the estate the separate property of the grantee. The instrument could have no other meaning, and this is true whether it recites whether the conveyance is for the sole separate use of the grantee or not.” 23 Tex.Jur. par. 128, p. 157.

When, on April 12, 1929, the land was conveyed by Mrs. Reed, joined by her husband, to appellant, and as part of the consideration therefor he gave his two notes, each for $2,706.54, secured by the “first Reed deed of trust,” the' notes became and continued, according to the allegations of the petition, the separate property of Mrs. Reed.

“When separate property has been sold, its proceeds immediately assume the same status as that sold. They will stand in lieu of the thing for which they were given, and occupy precisely the same status as property as they-did.” 23 Tex.Jur. par. 67, p. 90.

We will assume without deciding that the contention of appellant that the two “Reed foreclosures” were void is correct, and left the title vested by the deed of Mrs. Reed and her husband in appellant, subject to the indebtedness due her and the Bank.

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Bluebook (online)
98 S.W.2d 1042, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estrada-v-reed-texapp-1936.