Manning v. Dosher

1934 OK 101, 29 P.2d 966, 167 Okla. 368, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 521
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 20, 1934
Docket21572
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1934 OK 101 (Manning v. Dosher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manning v. Dosher, 1934 OK 101, 29 P.2d 966, 167 Okla. 368, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 521 (Okla. 1934).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

The record in this case shows that Joseph E. Manning, a resident of Tillman county, Okla., owned the 160 acres of land involved in this action. It had been occupied by him, his grandson, Joseph E. Meek, a minor, and an adult son, Hartwell G. Manning, and the wife and two children of Hartwell G. 'Manning. Joseph E. Manning made a will by the terms of which the land involved in this action was devised to the said Joseph E. Meek. Upon the death of Joseph E. Manning his will was admitted to probate and R. M. Dosher was appointed administrator with the will annexed. He was granted authority by the county court and by the district court on appeal to sell the 160 acres of land in question. together with other real property belonging to the estate, in order to procure funds with which to pay the indebtedness of the testator. From the judgment of the district court, the protestants, the plaintiffs in error herein, appealed to this court.

The plaintiffs in error contend that at the time of the death of the decedent he was the head of a family; that the land involved in this action was the homestead of the family; that it was not subject to the payment of any debt or liability contracted by or existing against the testator previous to or at the time of his death; that it was not subject to administration proceedings, and that Joseph E. Meek, the devisee, took it free from all debts or charges of any kind against the decedent.

Section 1, article 12, of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides what a homestead of any family in this state shall “consist of.” It will be noted that that article relates to homesteads of families. Section 2 of that article provides that;

“The homestead of the family shall be and is hereby protected from forced sale for the payment of debts, except for the purchase money therefor or a part of such purchase money, the taxes due thereon, or for work and material used in constructing improvements thereon; nor shall the owner, if married, sell the homestead without the consent of his or her spouse, given in such manner as may be prescribed by law; Provided, nothing in this article shall prohibit any person from mortgaging his homestead, the spouse, if any, joining therein; nor prevent the sale thereof on foreclosure to satisfy any' such mortgage.”

The portion of that section, as follows; “nor shall the owner, if married, sell the homestead without the consent of his or her spouse, * * *” recognizes that the owner of land which constitutes a homestead may be a man or woman, single or married. The word “owner” therein refers to the owner of the land and not to the owner of the homestead right. The homestead right belongs to the family. Thompson v. Marlin, 116 Okla. 159, 243 P. 952. Section 1225, O. S. 1931, provides:

“The homestead is not subject to the payment of any debt or liability contracted by or existing against the husband and wife, or either of them, previous to or at the time of the death of such husband or wife, except such as are secured by lien thereon, as provided in the laws relating to homesteads.”

It will be noted that while that legislative enactment, as well as the constitutional provision, protects a homestead “from forced sales for the payment of debts.” except as therein provided, neither protects land front forced sale for the payment of those debts where no homestead right exists.

Though the real estate involved in this action constituted a homestead during the lifetime of the testator, by reason of the existence of a family, a question not herein determined, that fact would not operate to prevent a sale thereof in satisfaction of the debts of the testator after the death of the testator and after his family had ceased to exist, unless the devisee took the land free and clear of the debts of the testator, as contended by the plaintiffs in error herein. The question then is. What kind of an-estate did the devisee take? The Legislature has provided the answer.

Section 1223. O. S. 1931, which provides, in part» as follows :

*370 “Upon the death of either husband or wife, the survivor may continue to possess and occupy the whole homestead, which shall not in any event be subject to administration proceedings, until it is otherwise disposed of according to law; and upon the death of both husband and wife the children may continue to possess and occupy the whole homestead until the youngest child becomes of age * * *”

• — is not applicable. The testator left neither surviving wife nor minor child. His children were not minors and the devisee was not his child. The term “child” does not include a grandchild. 29 Corpus Juris 1004; Bell v. Davis, 55 Okla. 121, 155 P. 1132; Burns v. Tiffee, 49 Okla. 262, 152 P. 368; Falter v. Walker, 47 Okla. 527, 149 P. 1111; Lowrey v. LeFlore, 48 Okla. 235, 149 P. 1112, and In re Estate of Bruner, 125 Okla. 101, 256 P. 722. There was no one entitled by law to the right granted by that section to possess and occupy the homestead. The land was subject to administration proceedings. In re Gentry’s Estate, 158 Okla. 196, 13 P. (2d) 156. In Union Trust Co. v. Cox, 55 Okla. 68, 155 P. 206, it was said:

“In this state we have a statute (section 6328, Rev. Laws 1910) extending the right to the husband or wife to continue to possess and occupy the homestead, acquired during the life of both, after the death of the other, and this right is also extended to the children, after the death of both parents, until the youngest becomes of age; but we have no statute giving this right to the survivor of a family other than a family based upon marriage relations. It might be well argued that this beneficent provision ought to extend to just such an instance as is presented in the ease at bar, but that is a matter within the province of the legislative branch of the government.”

There is a material distinction between the rights of a family to exemption of the homestead of the family from forced sale for the payment of debts and the rights of an heir or devisee to exemption of the property devised to or inherited by him, which theretofore constituted the homestead, from a sale in the process of administration for the payment of debts. A sale under the probate procedure of Oklahoma is not a “forced” sale within the meaning of article 12 of the Constitution, supra. It is a' sale made pursuant to statutory proceedings for the settlement of estates.

While under some statutes the homestead passes to heirs free of the debts of the ancestor (29 Corpus Juris, pp. 1017-1019), that is not true under the statutes of Oklahoma. The devisee took the land subject to the provisions of section 1516, O. S. 1931, which provides:

“When a person dies intestate, all his property, real and personal, without any distinction between them, is chargeable with the payment of his debts except as otherwise provided in this Code (chapter) and under Civil Procedure.”

Under the provisions of that section, the property was chargeable with the payment of the debts of* the testator, except as otherwise provided i-n the Code. He also took it subject to the provisions of section 1263, O. S. 1931, which provides that:

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Bluebook (online)
1934 OK 101, 29 P.2d 966, 167 Okla. 368, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manning-v-dosher-okla-1934.