Lovell v. Rowan Mutual Fire Insurance

264 S.E.2d 743, 46 N.C. App. 150, 1980 N.C. App. LEXIS 2815
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 15, 1980
Docket7919SC508
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 264 S.E.2d 743 (Lovell v. Rowan Mutual Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lovell v. Rowan Mutual Fire Insurance, 264 S.E.2d 743, 46 N.C. App. 150, 1980 N.C. App. LEXIS 2815 (N.C. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

MORRIS, Chief Judge.

This case presents a question of first impression in this State; i.e. whether an innocent wife can recover under an insurance policy issued to her husband insuring property owned by them as tenants by the entirety when the loss by fire was occasioned by the intentional burning of the property by the husband. The answer must be governed by the application of the law relating to tenancies by the entirety as well as the provisions of the policy of insurance.

The properties and incidents of this peculiar estate of husband and wife were concisely set out in Davis v. Bass, 188 N.C. 200, 124 S.E. 566 (1924). Because decision rests in large measure on the necessary application of these principles, we summarize what was said by Chief Justice Stacy in Davis v. Bass, supra.

7. A lease by the husband alone, without the wife’s joinder, is valid during coverture, because he is entitled to the possession, income, increase or usufruct of the property during their joint lives. . . .
8. Where an estate is conveyed to a man and woman who are not husband and wife, but who afterwards intermarry, as they took originally by moieties, they will continue to hold said estate by moieties after the marriage. Hence, there is nothing in the relation of husband and wife which prevents them from taking originally and thereafter holding their interests as tenants in common, if they so desire. . . . The intention appearing, a conveyance may be made to husband and [154]*154wife as tenants in common; but otherwise they will take by the entirety with right of survivorship. . . .
9. An absolute divorce destroys the unity of husband and wife, and therefore converts an estate by the entirety into a tenancy in common. . . .
11.While the husband is entitled to the possession of an estate held by the entirety and to take the rents and profits arising therefrom during coverture, with immunity of said estate from attachment or sale under execution, yet in a proceeding for alimony without divorce under C.S., 1667, the usufruct of the property may be subjected to the payment of an award for the wife’s reasonable subsistence and that of the children of the marriage, together with counsel fees as allowed by ch. 123, Public Laws, 1921. . . .
12. Neither party is entitled to partition. . . .
13. It has been held that an action by husband and wife, involving title or possession to lands held by the entirety, will not be barred by the statute of limitations as to one unless it bars both. [Citation omitted.]
14. A sale by husband and wife and a division of the proceeds ends an estate by the entirety. Moore v. Trust Co., 178 N.C., 118. But it may be otherwise where sale is made and one dies before division of purchase money. [Citation omitted.]
15. A tenancy by the entirety may exist in lands whether the estate be in fee, for life, or for years, and whether the same be in possession, reversion, or remainder (30 C.J., 566); but in this jurisdiction it is held that there can be no estate by the entirety in personal property. [Citation omitted.]
16. Where land is conveyed or devised to a husband and wife for and during the term of their natural lives, or during the life of the survivor, with remainder to their heirs in fee, said husband and wife, under the rule in Shelley’s case, take a fee-simple estate as tenants by the entirety in the property so conveyed or devised. [Citation omitted.]
[155]*15517. The above rules apply to devises to husband and wife, and also to contracts to convey land to husband and wife. Stamper v. Stamper, 121 N.C., 252. They likewise apply to a gift or devise to husband and wife “during their natural lives.” [Citation omitted.]

188 N.C. at 206-209, 124 S.E. at 569-571.

In Carter v. Insurance Co., 242 N.C. 578, 89 S.E. 2d 122 (1955), the Court was asked to determine the ownership of the proceeds of a fire insurance policy. Plaintiff and his wife owned the property as tenants by the entirety, but they were living separate and apart at the time the policy was issued and at the time the fire occurred occasioning the loss. Plaintiff husband was in possession of the property, applied for the insurance in his name only, and paid the premium therefor. He made demand on the insurance company for the entire proceeds of $4,000. After the fire, the wife obtained an absolute divorce from plaintiff, and made claim against the insurance company for one-half the proceeds. Both demands were refused, and husband brought action against the insurance company, which, with consent of all parties, paid the proceeds into court and was dicharged from liability. The wife was then substituted as defendant and was allowed to aver her claim for one-half the money on deposit. The Court held that she was entitled to one-half the proceeds because of the divorce. In reaching that conclusion the Court held that any insurance on the interest of one tenant by the entirety inured to benefit of the other, saying:

It may be conceded that the plaintiff husband had an insurable interest in the property of which he and his wife were seized as tenants by the entirety. However, since the proprietary interest of the husband was an inseparable part of the single-entity title held in unity by him and his wife, his insurable interest ran to the whole of the property and covered the entire estate. [Citations omitted.] We conclude that the insurance policy as written and the loss benefits created thereby inured to the benefit of the entire estate as owned by both husband and wife. (Emphasis added.)

242 N.C. at 580, 89 S.E. 2d at 124. See also Forsyth County v. Plemmons, 2 N.C. App. 373, 163 S.E. 2d 97 (1968).

[156]*156Since neither tenant in an estate by the entirety can insure his or her interest as a separate moiety apart from the estate owned by the two of them as an indivisible estate without the insurance inuring the benefit of the entirety, it follows that each tenant must accept as an act of both of them any act of the other affecting the estate. The fact that the husband was the named insured is of no consequence.

The interests of the husband and wife are nonseparable, and where this situation exists, courts generally hold that the innocent insured may not recover under the policy following an intentional act on the part of one of the insured tenants which would otherwise require payment for a loss to the property insured. See Annot. 24 A.L.R. 3d 450 (1969). In Rockingham Mutual Insurance Co., v. Hummel, — Va. —, 250 S.E. 2d 774 (1979), the Court refused recovery to an innocent wife whose husband had intentionally burned property owned by them as tenants by the entirety and the two were named insureds. The action was brought by the insurer to recover funds it had paid to the couple on the loss claimed. The trial court had sustained the wife’s demurrer but continued the action as to the husband. The Court held that the two had a joint obligation to refrain from defrauding the insurer, and even though the wife was entirely innocent, she was not entitled to share in the insurance proceeds. The Court cited with approval Klemens v. Badger Mututal Insurance Co. of Milwaukee, 8 Wis. 2d 565, 99 N.W.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Error v. Western Home Insurance Co.
762 P.2d 1077 (Utah Supreme Court, 1988)
Concepts, Inc. v. First Security Realty Services, Inc.
743 P.2d 1158 (Utah Supreme Court, 1987)
In re Fortescue
341 S.E.2d 757 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1986)
St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Molloy
433 A.2d 1135 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1981)
Lovell v. Rowan Mutual Fire Insurance
264 S.E.2d 743 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 S.E.2d 743, 46 N.C. App. 150, 1980 N.C. App. LEXIS 2815, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lovell-v-rowan-mutual-fire-insurance-ncctapp-1980.