In Re Estate of Carraghar

183 P. 161, 181 Cal. 15, 1919 Cal. LEXIS 312
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 8, 1919
DocketSac. No. 2938.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 183 P. 161 (In Re Estate of Carraghar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Estate of Carraghar, 183 P. 161, 181 Cal. 15, 1919 Cal. LEXIS 312 (Cal. 1919).

Opinions

ANGELLOTTI, C. J.

This is an appeal by the surviving wife of deceased from an order denying her petition for a probate homestead out of the only real property owned by the deceased at the time of his death, which was an undivided half of a lot in the city of Sacramento, and was his separate property. The other undivided one-half of said lot was owned by one Buckman. In the year 1898 deceased constructed a dwelling-house on this land. From the year 1899 to the death of deceased in 1917, the premises were occupied by deceased and his wife as their residence, and during all said time deceased had said premises inclosed, and, with his wife, was in exclusive occupation thereof. The learned judge of the lower court concluded that in view of the decisions of this court, a homestead could not be set apart from this property so owned by the deceased as a tenant in common with another person, and therefore denied the application.

[1] Whatever we might think if the question were a new one in this state, it is clear that the general rule to the effect that a homestead cannot be created or set apart from property owned by the husband or wife and a third party as tenants in common or joint tenants is too thoroughly established by a long line of decisions, commencing with Wolf v. Fleischacker, 5 Cal. 244, [63 Am. Dec. 121], and running down practically to this time, to permit us now to hold otherwise. Most of these decisions were discussed in the comparatively recent case of Schoonover v. Birnbaum, 148 Cal. 548, [83 Pac. 999], (decided in January, 1906), in which it was sought to have the prior decisions on the question overruled, and where we felt compelled to say that “without expressing any opinion concerning the soundness or uhsoundness of the decisions in question, we are of the opinion that they should be adhered to, leaving it to the legislature to extend the right of the homestead to cotenants if it shall see fit.” This conclusion was reached in view of the rule of stare decisis, especially with regard to the rules of law upon the subject of titles to real estate. More than thirteen years have passed *17 since that decision without any legislative action in the respect referred to, and, of course, what was there said applies now with much more force than it did in 1906. Since the decision in Schoonover v. Birnbaum, supra, this general rule has been fully recognized in United States etc. Co. v. Bell, 153 Cal. 781, [96 Pac. 901], Swan v. Walden, 156 Cal. 195, [134 Am. St. Rep. 116, 20 Ann. Cas. 194, 103 Pac. 931], and Estate of Davidson, 159 Cal. 98, [115 Pac. 49], In Swan v. Walden, supra, a case of a homestead selected by the wife during the lifetime of the parties, the homestead was upheld although the property was held in joint tenancy, but this was because the only joint tenants were the husband and wife, and the wife’s selection was of the whole property, and the wife had the power under the law to declare a homestead upon the husband’s separate property as well as upon her own property. As to this situation the court said: “The homestead thus attempted to be declared is upon land, all of which is susceptible at the instance of the wife of having the homestead characteristics impressed upon it. There is no occasion for segregation or partition or delimitation of boundaries, since the homestead attaches to all of the estate and all of the land. The reasons which, in the view of this court, made it legally impossible for the husband to declare such a homestead when there was a cotenancy between himself, his wife, or third persons, does not exist in the peculiar instance of the case at bar. ’ ’ (See, also, In re Bailard, 178 Cal. 293, [173 Pac. 170].) As we have seen in the case at bar, the other tenant in common is a third party. The reason expressed for the rule enunciated by our decisions, as stated in Estate of Davidson, 159 Cal. 98, 101, [115 Pac. 49, 50], is that “on account of the nature of the tenancy, there can be no segregation or delimitation of the boundaries of the particular estate, or interest in the property of the cotenancy sought to be impressed whereby it can be determined as to what particular part of the land the homestead attaches.” In Estate of Davidson, supra, it was sought by the surviving wife to have set apart as a probate homestead the deceased husband’s undivided half of the property on which they resided at the time of his death, the wife being the owner of the other undivided half, and it was held by the same justices who participated in Swan v. Walden, supra, that, in view of the rule of our decisions, the husband’s *18 undivided one-half could not be selected as a probate homestead.

Appellant’s principal claim is that she is entitled to have her husband’s undivided half of this property' set apart as a homestead by virtue of the provisions of an act entitled z“An Act Relating to Homesteads,” adopted by the legislature in the year 1868. (Stats. 1867-68, p. 116.) It is probable, as was said in Swan v. Walden, supra, that this act was adopted to modify the rule of decision in this very matter. It substantially provided that whenever a party entitled to a homestead under the laws of the state is in exclusive occupation of any particular tract of land, having the same inclosed, and shall select and record and reside upon the same as a homestead, he shall be entitled to the same to the extent of his interest in the property “although such land be held in joint tenancy, or tenancy in common, or such claimant own only an undivided interest.” It may be assumed that if this act is still in force, appellant is entitled to have her deceased husband’s interest set apart as a homestead, for it was held under this act in Higgins et al. v. Higgins et al., 46 Cal. 259, that the. wife could select as a homestead the undivided interest of her husband in property exclusively occupied by him, to the exclusion of all other cotenants. But we do not see how it may reasonably be held that the act survived the going into effect of our codes on January 1, 1873. The question whether this particular act was repealed by the codes has never been determined or even discussed by this court, though the act was referred to in passing in both Swan v. Walden, supra, and Estate of Davidson, supra. The act does not appear to have been mentioned in either Estate of Carriger, 107 Cal. 618, [40 Pac. 1032], or Rosenthal v. Merced Bank, 110 Cal. 198, [42 Pac. 640], cases involving attempted selections since the codes took effect. In each of these eases the right to a homestead was denied by the court, although, so far as we can see, the facts were such as to make the act of 1868 applicable, if still in force. The uniform course of our decisions on this matter has been the same since the adoption of the codes as it was prior to the adoption of the act of 1868. We say this much simply for the purpose of showing that this court has never recognized the act of 1868 as surviving the taking effect of the codes.

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Bluebook (online)
183 P. 161, 181 Cal. 15, 1919 Cal. LEXIS 312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-carraghar-cal-1919.