Fortson v. Moseke

7 La. App. 131, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 548
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 10, 1927
DocketNo. 2343
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 7 La. App. 131 (Fortson v. Moseke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fortson v. Moseke, 7 La. App. 131, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 548 (La. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

ODOM, J.

On April 7, 1920, the defendant, J. H. Moseke, executed his promissory note for $285.07 due November 15 following, payable to J. T. Ramsey and secured the same by mortgage on an undivided one-half interest on the southwest quarter of Section thirty-two, Township twenty-two north, Range six west in Claiborne parish, Louisiana, containing 160 acres.

Alleging ownership of the note and that the same had not been paid the plaintiff, Fortson, took out executory process to collect the same on October 21, 1924. The land mortgaged was seized and advertised to be sold on January 31, 1925. On January 30, 1925, the day previous to the one on which the sale was to take place, J. H. Moseke, the maker of the note and defendant in the foreclosure suit, in his capacity as tutor of the minors, Booker T. and James Douglas Carter, and Mattie Spear, born Mozeke, intervened in the foreclosure suit, set up the facts of the seizure and proposed sale of an undivided half interest in said land and alleged that the one-half interest in the property above described which had been mortgaged by J. H. Moseke was' not in fact owned by him but belonged in indivisión to the heirs of Rhoda Moseke (naming them).

Rhoda Moseke was the wife of J. H. Moseke and the property in controversy in this suit was acquired during their marriage, the deed being taken in the name of Rhoda Moseke, the wife.

[132]*132It is alleged:

“That said Rhoda Moseke acquired said lands by purchase from A.. T. Nelson by deed dated January 15, 1913, recorded on page 567, Book Z, of the conveyance records of Claiborne parish, and paid for said lands with moneys from her p'araphernal property.”

And it is further alleged that the mortgage to secure the note sued on was executed by said J. H. Moseke—

“in the belief that he owned an undivided one-half interest in said lands, whereas, in truth and in fact, as he is now advised, he had no interest therein, as said lands were the separate property of his wife, Rhoda Moseke, and, on her death, descended to her children.”

Intervenors prayed for an injunction restraining the sale of the property and for judgment recognizing the heirs of Rhoda Moseke as owners of the entire interest in said 160 acres of land.

After the trial the court dissolved the writ of injunction and decreed that the property purchased in the name of Rhoda Moseke on January 15, 1913, during her marriage with J. A. Moseke, was community property. Intervenors prosecute this appeal.

OPINION

J. H. Moseke and Rhoda Moseke were husband and wife at the time this property was acquired. It seems to be conceded that they were living together in community- The property was acquired in the wife’s name. The deed recit.es that it is sold—

“unto Rhoda Moseke, nee Jackson, whose husband, J. H. Moseke, signs this deed to aid, assist and authorize his said wife to make this purchase.”

There is no recital in the deed that the land is purchased with paraphernal funds of the wife or that the same is not to fall into the community acquets and gains existing between her and her husband.

The consideration of the sale, as shown by the deed, was $1100.00, $400.00 being paid in cash and the balance represented by four notes each for $175.00 payable December 15 in the years 1913, 1914, 1915 and 1916.

The note maturing December 15, 1913, seems to have been paid promptly. Its cancellation was noted on the mortgage record by the clerk and recorder on that date. The other three notes were presented for cancellation on November 29, 1919, and the recorder cancelled the mortgage in full on that date. The record does not disclose whether they were paid on that date or' prior thereto. Rhoda Moseke died shortly thereafter.

The property having been acquired during the marriage in the name of the wife and being possessed by her at the time of the dissolution of the marriage is “presumed common effects or gains”.

Civil Code, 2399, 2402, 2405.

Bachino vs. Costs, 35 La. Ann. 570.

Rocques vs. Freeman, 125 La. 65, 51 So. 68.

Bartels vs. Souchon, 48 La. Ann. 785, 19 So. 941.

This property prima facie belongs to the community and must be considered as belonging to the community— ’

“until the presumption has been effectually destroyed by conclusive proof of the claim of separate ownership to it.”

Bachino vs. Costs, supra.

Citing:

Collins vs. Daly, 4 Rob. 118.

[133]*133Smalley vs. Lawrence, 9 Rob. 214.

Burke vs. Clark, 11 La. 206.

Squier vs. Stockton, 5 La. Ann. 741.

Forbes vs. Forbes, 11 La. Ann. 326.

Huntington vs. Legros, 18 La. Ann. 126.

Shaw vs. Hill, 20 La. Ann. 531.

State of Louisiana ex rel. Durant vs. Board of Liquidators, 29 La. Ann. 76.

The record showing upon its face that this property is community property, the burden rested upon these intervenors, heirs of their mother, who claimed it was separate property, to prove that fact. This they have failed to do.

J. H. Mozeke, the surviving spouse, testified that the property belonged to his wife; that she had paid for it; but on being questioned as to where and how she acquired the funds with which to make the purchase, he could give no definite, satisfactory answers. He said his wife had inherited some property from her mother which she had sold, but he did not know how much she received for it, whether $10.00 or $50.00; nor did he know when she sold it, but a portion of his testimony indicates that she sold it after this purchase was made. The property which he says she sold was, he said, situated in the adjoining parish of Lincoln, but no record evidence was introduced to show that she had ever made such a sale nor that she had inherited any property in that parish. Questioned further, he said his wife acquired the money from “deals” which she made, but he was not able to specify any particular' “deal” because, he said, he did not inquire into his wifes business.

His daughter, Mattie Spear, one of the intervenors, testified that her mother paid for the property with her own money; that her mother had at one time shown her some $640.00 in cash; had her count it. This was just before the property in question was purchased. But she did not know when or where her mother got the money or even that it was her own money, except what her mother told her. Her mother, she says, told her it was hers.

If it be true, as alleged by intervenors, that Rhoda Moseke had inherited property from her mother and had sold it, the records were the best evidence of that fact. These records were accessible and could have been produced. But, instead of producing them, and thereby settling the vital point at issue, the intervenors rested their case on the weakest kind of evidence, the greater portion of which was hearsay. This property being prima facie a community asset, the burden was on intervenors to show by Conclusive proof that it was the separate property of the wife. Such is our jurisprudence. .

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7 La. App. 131, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fortson-v-moseke-lactapp-1927.