In re Estate of Leahy

3 Coffey 364
CourtSuperior Court of California, County of San Francisco
DecidedMay 31, 1893
DocketNo. 12,338
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Coffey 364 (In re Estate of Leahy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco 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 Leahy, 3 Coffey 364 (Cal. Super. Ct. 1893).

Opinion

COFFEY, J.

The application to set apart 'a homestead in this proceeding is based on section 1465 of the Code of Civil Procedure of this state, which provides, among other things, as follows: “If none [referring to a homestead] has been selected, designated and recorded .... the court must select, designate and set apart, and cause to be recorded, a homestead for the use of the surviving husband or wife and the minor children, out of the common property,” etc.

The petition filed herein alleges that the real estate described therein is the community property of the widow and her deceased husband; that it was purchased on the seventeenth day of May, 1888; that no homestead was recorded during the lifetime of the deceased, and that there is one minor child.

The answer filed to the petition of the applicant admits all the facts except that the property is the community property of the applicant and her deceased husband, but alleges that it was purchased in part with the earnings and dividends of the separate estate of the deceased, and that thirty shares of stock, separate property, were hypothecated as part of the purchase price.

It is admitted that the piece of property is appraised at $6,100; that thirty shares of stock have been pledged to pay $1,500 of the purchase price of the said piece of real estate; that the widow is to receive $2,000 from the United Order of Workmen, as her separate property, and that at the time applicant married deceased he owned as his separate property either thirty-one or two shares of stock in the Workingmen’s Boot and Shoe Company of the par value of $50 per share.

The contention in the matter narrows itself down to the fact as to whether the real estate was purchased in part with [366]*366separate funds or whether it was entirely purchased with community funds.

For the purpose of proving opponent’s side of the case, Walter Rosie, secretary of the Boot and Shoe Company, was subpoenaed, and after he was sworn and in part examined, it was suggested that he furnish an itemized ledger account showing the amount of dividends, and the amounts and times when stock was purchased, from the time of the marriage up to date. This account shows the following facts: At the time the deceased married he owned thirty-one shares of stock of the value of $1,550. On July 2, 1877, the dividends on that stock amounted to $186; to that amount the deceased added $14 in cash and purchased four shares of stock. On January 5, 1878, the dividends amounted to $210, and on that day he purchased four shares of stock for $200 and left the remaining $10 with the company. On July 1, 1878, the dividends amounted to $234, and adding $6 he purchased five shares of stock. On January 2, 1879, the dividends amounted to $198, and adding $2 in cash he purchased four more shares of stock. On July 2, 1879, the dividends amounted to $216, and on the following day- he purchased four more shares of stock and drew out $16 in cash. On January 5, 1880, the dividends amounted to $234, to which he added $16 in cash and bought five shares of stock. On July 1, 1880, the dividends amounted to $85.50, to which he added $14.50 in cash and bought two shares of stock. On January 1, 1881, the dividends amounted to $88.50, and to that amount he added $11.50 in cash and purchased two shares of stock. On July 5, 1881, the dividends amounted to $183. To that $17 in cash were added and four shares of stock were purchased. On January 5, 1882, the dividends amounted to $195, to which $5 in cash were added and four shares of stock purchased. On July 10, 1882, the dividends amounted to $138, to which $12 in cash were added and three shares of stock purchased. On January 3, 1883, the dividends amounted to $288, to which $12 in cash were added and six shares of stock were purchased. On July 2, 1883, $400 in cash were put in, and on July 9th a dividend of $195 declared, and on that day ten shares of stock were purchased, and on the 16th of July $95 in cash were drawn out. On January 6, 1884, the dividends [367]*367amounted to $308, and six shares of stock were purchased, and $8 in cash drawn out. On July 7, 1884, the dividends amounted to $423, and on that day the last shares of stock, six in number, were purchased and $123 were drawn out. This fully accounts for the one hundred shares of stock owned by the estate.

To buy the sixty-nine shares of stock after the deceased married in 1877, the purchase price of which was $3,450, the deceased added to the dividends accruing from the stock the sum of $510 up to the time the last stock was purchased, and during the same period drew out from the dividends the sum of $242. If we assume that the $510 paid in be community property, it still leaves eighty-nine and four-fifths shares of stock as separate property, and it is admitted that thirty shares of stock were pledged to make part of the purchase price.

The secretary of the Hibernia Bank produced the accounts of the deceased with that bank, and copies of the accounts have been introduced in evidence pursuant to order. The first bank account covers a period of time from January 11, 1881, to May 9, 1888.

The second account covers a period of time from March 22, 1888, up to date.

From and after the last purchase of stock up to the time of the purchase of the real estate in May, 1888, the following facts appear from the first bank account and from the account with the Boot and Shoe Company: On July 12, 1894, the deceased received in cash as dividends the sum of $123, and on July 21st $100 were deposited in the bank. On January 3, 1885, $450 were received as dividends and $500 were placed in bank. On July 11, 1885, $300 were received as dividends, and on July 25, $300 were put in bank. On January 16, 1886, $225 were received as dividends, and on February 4th, $200 were put in bank. On March 1, 1886, $225 were received as dividends, and on March 8th, $250 were put in bank. On July 16, 1886, $150 were received as dividends, and on August 16th, $100 were put in bank. On August 28th, $150 were received as dividends, and on September 16th, $200 were put in bank. On March 18, 1887, $300 were received as dividends, and on March 28th, $350 were placed in [368]*368bank. On July 16, 1887, $200 were received as dividends, and on the 18th of July, $200 were placed in bank. On February 18, 1888, $225 were received as dividends, and on February 17, 1888, $130 were placed in bank.

The dividends during this time amounted tó $2,573, and during this time $2,330 went into the Hibernia Bank. Now, as fully ninety per cent of the stock is separate estate, ninety per cent of its dividends must also be separate property, and a large percentage of this went into the Hibernia Bank and was drawn out to make part payment on the purchase price of the real estate on May 9, 1888. All the facts shown by the bank accounts and Boot and Shoe Company’s account show that a large part of the separate estate went toward buying the real property.

Passing from the state of facts established, let us consider the contention of applicant.

Counsel for applicant suggest that this is not a controversy between creditors and a widow and minor, but that it is a contention between adult heirs and the widow and minor child.

Counsel also suggest that homesteads are provided for in every state in the Union, and are liberally construed in favor of the claimant.

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Bluebook (online)
3 Coffey 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-leahy-calsuppctsf-1893.