Harris v. Hamilton

221 S.W. 273, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 430
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 12, 1920
DocketNo. 111-2958
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 221 S.W. 273 (Harris v. Hamilton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Hamilton, 221 S.W. 273, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 430 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1920).

Opinion

McCLENDON, J.

This suit was for th< purpose of declaring a certain deed to real estate to be a mortgage, and to declare such mortgage void as to a portion of the land conveyed, as being the homestead of Mrs. Ida W. [274]*274Harris. Defendants below claimed to be innocent purchasers.

The facts material to the controversy, as found by the answers of the jury to special issues, and aided by uncontradicted testimony, are substantially as follows: The property in controversy was a part of the original homestead tract of W. W. Weatherred and wife, and was their community property. They both died intestate some years prior to 1911, leaving six children: The plaintiff ¡Mrs. Ida W. Harris, who some years previously had been permanently abandoned by her husband, the interveners, Mrs. Mattie Short, Maggie and Willie Weatherred, unmarried daughters, and James P. Weatherred, and Mrs. Anna Pratt, who had previously been settled with and was not interested in the land involved in the suit. A portion of the .original homestead tract had been set aside to Mrs. Short, but the partition deed had been lost. The property involved was in fact-owned oh the 15th day of May, rail, by Mrs. Harris, Misses Maggie and Willie Weatherred, and James P. Weatherred. Some years prior thereto Mrs. Harris, with the consent of the other heirs, had built a home on a portion of the tract, which she had occupied as a homestead for many years; but no deed had been made to her. On May 15, 1911, Mrs. Harris,Mrs. Short and husband, Misses Maggie and Willie Weatherred, and James P. Weatherred executed a general warranty deed conveying the property to W. W. King, for the recited consideration of two notes of $1,500 each, secured by vendor’s lien upon the property, executed by King, and payable to the order of James P. Weatherred, and $1,000 in cash. Mrs. Short and husband had no interest in the property, but joined in the deed as a matter of form. This deed was not placed of record until after the rights of the parties to the suit had become fixed. The circumstances under which this deed was executed were that James P. Weatherred wished to engage in business and desired to raise money, and the purpose of the deed was to accommodate hint in raising the money by negotiation of one of the notes. King paid none of the cash consideration expressed in the deed, but executed the vendor’s lien notes as an accommodation to James P. Weather-red. The portion of the property upon which the home of Mrs. Harris was situated remained in the possession of Mrs. Harris, through tenants, she collecting the rent thereon; and the remainder of the tract remained in the possession of interveners, through tenants, they collecting the rent in the same manner until some time after March, 1912. James P. Weatherred negotiated note No. 1 to a bank, and note No. 2 to a firm in Houston; they having no knowledge of the circumstances under which the deed was executed. On March 6, 1912, defendant A. D. Hamilton purchased all that portion of the property, except Mrs. Harris’ homestead, from King, taking a general warranty deed thereto; the consideration being that he assumed note No. 1 and paid an additional $1,-000. This was paid to King, $500 in cash and a $500 note, not secured by a lien; the cash and note being turned over by King to James P. Weatherred, who later collected the note. At the time of this purchase A. D. Hamilton knew that the interveners were in possession, through tenants, and collecting the rent, and testified that he was told by King that the reason of such possession was that King had not paid the $1,000 stated as part of the consideration in the deed to him, and that he had agreed with grantors that they should collect the rent in lieu of interest until he should pay the $1,000, and that it was understood that Hamilton was to permit the grantors to collect the rent for the balance of the year 1912. At the time of executing this deed from King t,o Hamilton King also executed a deed to Mrs. Harris, conveying to her her homestead tract; the consideration stated in the deed being the cancellation of note No. 2. This deed, King testified, was placed with James P. Weatherred, to be delivered to Mrs. Harris upon payment of note No. 2, upon which King was liable as maker. A. D. Hamilton knew of the execution of this deed and of the alleged agreement under which it was delivered to Weatherred for Mrs. Harris at the time he purchased the remainder of the tract from King. The jury found that Weatherred did not represent Mrs. Harris in this transaction, and that no agreement was made that note No. 2 should be canceled as a consideration for the deed to Mrs. Harris.

On the 9th day of June, 1913, defendant Beaver A. Hamilton, a son of A. D. Hamilton, purchased the Ida Harris homestead tract fíom W. W. King by general warranty deed, the consideration expressed being the assumption of note No. 2; and Beaver A. Hamilton at the same time paid oft and took a release to note No. 2. In the transaction Beaver A. Hamilton was represented by A. D. Hamilton,, who furnished the money to take up note No. 2, and who testified that in so doing he was influenced by the fact that note No. 2 constituted a lien upon the balance of the property which he had previously acquired from King. The jury found that Beaver A. Hamilton was not an innocent purchaser as to the Ida W. Harris tract, but that A. D. Hamilton was an innocent purchaser as to the remainder of the property bought by him. The jury found that James P. Weatherred was the agent of Mrs. Harris in the transaction which resulted in the execution and delivery of the deed of May 15, 1911, and further that none of the interveners knew or consented to the sale by King to A. D. Hamilton. Upon the verdict of the jury, judgment was rendered in favor of A. D. Hamilton for the property acquired by him in the deed from King, and in favor of Mrs. Harris for [275]*275her homestead tract, charging said tract, however, with note No. 2. This judgment was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals, First District. 185 S. W. 409.

[1-3] It is not denied that the two vendor’s lien notes constituted a valid lien upon the property conveyed to A. D. Hamilton; nor is it denied that such notes constitute a lien upon Mrs. Harris’ property, except for her incapacity to create such lien by virtue of its being her homestead. The contention that she could not create such lien is grounded upon the proposition that a married woman who has been abandoned by her husband cannot create a valid lien upon her separate property which at the time constitutes her homestead. While this exact question has not been determined, we believe her power to create such lien necessarily follows from her power to sell her separate property, whether homestead or not, without the joinder of her husband, after she has been permanently abandoned by him. The power to convey necessarily includes the power to mortgage, in the absence of some constitutional or statutory inhibition. It has been repeatedly held in this state that a married woman, after being permanently abandoned by her husband, can convey her separate property, whether her homestead or not, without the joinder of her husband. Hector v. Knox, 63 Tex. 613; Lacy v. Rollins, 74 Tex. 566, 12 S. W. 314; Mabry v. Lumber Co., 47 Tex. Civ. App. 443, 105 S. W. 1156. The basis of these decisions is that, while the married, relation has not been legally severed, a status is created in the wife, in so far as her property rights are concerned, identical with that of a feme sole, giving her full power over her property the same as if the marital relation did not exist.

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Bluebook (online)
221 S.W. 273, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-hamilton-texcommnapp-1920.