Ferm v. Crenshaw

468 S.W.2d 706, 1971 Mo. App. LEXIS 653
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 1971
DocketNo. 25539
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 468 S.W.2d 706 (Ferm v. Crenshaw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferm v. Crenshaw, 468 S.W.2d 706, 1971 Mo. App. LEXIS 653 (Mo. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

CROSS, Judge.

On April 5, 1968, a judgment for $1,271.-01 was rendered in magistrate court in fa[707]*707vor of plaintiffs and against defendant, and a transcript thereof was duly filed with the clerk of the circuit court. Pursuant to general execution, the Sheriff of Jackson County levied upon real estate belonging to the defendant1 and sold it at public auction to the plaintiffs, on September IS, 1969. On September 23, 1969, the sheriff delivered to plaintiffs his deed therefor, duly acknowledged in open court. This present proceeding arises upon defendant’s motion to set aside the sale under execution, in which she alleges that she had a homestead in the subject real estate, as provided for by V.A.M.S. Section 513.-510; that such homestead was exempt from execution on plaintiffs’ judgment; that the execution sale was illegally conducted and void because the sheriff had not appointed three disinterested appraisers to fix the location and boundaries of defendant’s homestead, and, for the further reason there was no interest in the real estate subject to execution on plaintiffs’ judgment.

Plaintiffs’ reply to defendant’s motion alleged they were owners of the property by purchase at the execution sale and denied that defendant had any homestead interest that was exempt from execution and sale.

Upon hearing, the circuit court entered conclusions of law to the effect that defendant occupied the subject property prior to the entry of judgment, that she was entitled to claim her homestead exemption therein, and that the sheriff’s sale was void because appraisers were not appointed as required by Section 513.480 V.A.M.S. The court entered judgment as follows: “IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED: Defendant’s motion to set aside sale under execution is sustained. The Execution Sale of September 15, 1969 is declared void and is set aside.” Plaintiffs have appealed.

The determinative appeal question is whether defendant had established a homestead in the real estate prior to the accrual of plaintiffs’ cause of action, and thereby rendered the property exempt from execution on plaintiffs’ judgment.

No party has raised the question of our jurisdiction. However, as Judge Bennick said in Williams v. Luecke, Mo.App., 152 S.W.2d 991, “the question inevitably suggests itself as to whether a proceeding of this character, a motion to quash an execution and set aside the sale of real estate thereunder, involves title to real estate in a constitutional sense so as to vest appellate jurisdiction in the Supreme Court.” In the older cases, foremost of which were McAnaw v. Matthis, 129 Mo. 142, 31 S.W. 344 and Stinson v. Call, 163 Mo. 323, 63 S.W. 729, the Supreme Court took the position that an appeal from an order setting aside an execution sale of land was properly taken to the Supreme Court. On that point those cases were specifically overruled in State ex rel. Reed v. Elliott, 180 Mo. 658, 79 S.W. 696; Moore v. Stemmons, 192 Mo. 46, 90 S.W. 434 and Lawson v. Hammond, 191 Mo. 522, 90 S.W. 431. Later opinions have consistently held “It is not enough (to involve title to real estate) that the judgment, when carried into execution, will affect the title to land. The title must be involved in the suit itself, and be a matter about which there is a contest”, as was said in Nettleton Bank v. McGauhey’s Estate, 318 Mo. 948, 2 S.W.2d 771. As our conclusion on the jurisdiction question, we adopt and quote the following statement from Williams v. Luecke, supra: “Both reason and precedent determine the question to the contrary. Conceding that title to real estate would have been incidentally affected if the court had sustained the motion, such question was nevertheless not directly involved in the case as it is required to be in order to invest appellate jurisdiction in the Supreme Court. Nettleton Bank v. McGauhey’s Estate, 318 Mo. 948, 2 S.W.2d 771. The issue involved on the merits of the motion was the validity of [708]*708the sale, and not the title acquired by-plaintiff, about which there was no controversy if the sale itself was valid. Absent a contest about title, the proceeding was not one involving title to real estate within the meaning of the constitutional provision, and appellate jurisdiction is therefore properly vested in this court to which the appeal has been allowed. State ex rel. Ross and to Use of Drainage Dist. No. 6 of Pemiscot County v. Martin, 338 Mo. 1067, 93 S.W.2d 911; City of St. Louis v. Gottschall, Mo.App., 121 S.W.2d239.”

From the testimony of defendant and her witness Don E. Klahn the following facts appear: On February 24, 1967, Mr. Klahn and his wife were the record owners of the subject property. On the stated date defendant and her then living husband, Harold Crenshaw, entered into a contract with the Klahns to purchase the sellers’ equity for the agreed consideration of $1,300.00 and assume an existing mortgage in excess of $11,000.00, held by Prudential. Defendant paid only $100.00 down and agreed to pay. the remainder in monthly installments. The Klahns retained title and delivered no deed, but defendant and her husband took possession of the property, and the family proceeded to occupy it as their home until Mr. Crenshaw’s death on September 30, 1967. Thereupon defendant rented the premises to another person and moved to residence property owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ferm, the plaintiffs, which she was able to rent for a lesser amount than the rental she received for the property she had vacated. Defendant explained that she applied the amount thus gained to help pay for the real estate she had contracted to purchase.

On January 27, 1968, the plaintiffs gave defendant formal written notice to vacate their premises because of her alleged breach of lease provisions causing extensive damage to the property. Pursuant thereto, defendant vacated the Ferm property in February, 1968, and moved back to the premises she had contracted to purchase from the Klahns.

On March 1st, 1968, plaintiffs filed their magistrate court suit against defendant which resulted in the previously mentioned judgment entered on April 5, 1968, providing that plaintiffs recover $1,271.00 from defendant because of waste and damages to the premises.

On April 3, 1968, defendant married one Ronald Hill Harrison, but it appears that Harrison never contributed to the support of defendant or her six children and that he and defendant have separated. Defendant derived family support from V.A. and Social Security benefits, and it is on that basis that she claimed to be the head of a family.

By October 30, 1968, defendant had completed her down payments to the Klahns under her contract to purchase, and on that date they conveyed the property to defendant by a warranty deed, but defendant did not file that instrument of conveyance until November IS, 1968. She held record title to the property only seven days, and conveyed it to her parents by warranty deed on November 22, 1968. She continued to live in the property until July of 1969, at which time she vacated it and moved to Barnett, Missouri.

Notice of levy on the subject real estate to satisfy the Ferms’ judgment was served on defendant in June of 1969 and the property was sold on September 15, 1969, at public auction, as heretofore noted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
468 S.W.2d 706, 1971 Mo. App. LEXIS 653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ferm-v-crenshaw-moctapp-1971.