Martin v. Astin

295 S.W. 584
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 4, 1927
DocketNo. 958-4774
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 295 S.W. 584 (Martin v. Astin) 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
Martin v. Astin, 295 S.W. 584 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1927).

Opinion

HARVEY, P. J.

We adopt the statement of the case as made by the Court of Civil Appeals (289 S. W. 442), which is as follows:

“Suit by J. D. Astin, appellant, against A. Martin and others, appellees, to recover 138 acres of land in Lee county. Trial to jury. Judgment for appellees on directed verdict.
“M. N. Martin, the mother of appellee, A. Martin, is common source of title. Appellant claims under an execution sale foreclosing an abstract of judgment lien under a judgment in favor of Lee County State Bank of Lexington, Tex., against M. N. Martin. The judgment was recovered April 20, 1923. An abstract of judgment was recorded and indexed in Lee county on April 26, 1923. Execution issued September 4, -1923, levied on the same date, and the land was sold October 2, 1923, to one Shaffer, who conveyed it to appellant. The record shows that Shaffer in fact purchased for appellant.
“Appellee claims under a deed from M. N. Martin, executed October 17, 1921, but not recorded until September 13, 1923.
“Two important questions are presented by the appeal: Eirst, whether the possession of A. Martin on the date the judgment lien attached was notice to the bank of his claim of title under the unrecorded deed from his mother; and, second, whether acts and representations of A. Martin to appellant prior to the latter’s purchase at execution sale were sufficient to raise the issue of estoppel against A. Martin to assert his title.
“The evidence with reference to A. Martin’s possession of the property is without material controversy. The land in question was part of original holdings of A. Martin’s father, W. H. Martin, aggregating 480 acres, the community property of W. H. and M. N. Martin. W. H. Martin - died intestate prior to 1913, and the community property passed, one half to M. N. Martin, and the other half to A. Martin and three other children of W. H. and M. N. Martin. There was a partition among the heirs, by which 240 acres in the northern portion of these holdings was set aside to M. N. Martin, and four 00-acre tracts in the southern portion to the four children in severalty. M. N. Martin’s 240 acres consisted of two adjoining tracts out of two separate surveys. The northern tract, being that in suit, was in the Moran survey, and known as the Bounds tract, containing 138 acres. The southern tract, containing 102 acres, was in the Peavyhouse survey. Originally there had been a line fence between the two tracts, but this was taken down many years ago and the whole was under one inclosure. The Bounds tract appears to have been better land and was cultivated in the eastern portion. There was also some cultivation in the southern tract. The old home place of W. H. and M. N. Martin was on the Peavyhouse tract, some two or three hundred yards south of the Bounds line. A. Martin lived with his parents up to the time of his father’s death, and afterwards he lived with his mother and cultivated or assisted in cultivating or in renting the land. He married in August, 1913, or 1914, and moved into the home place with his mother. Erom that time up to the year 1921 he lived on the place and cultivated the land as a tenant, except that he moved away to Thorndale for one year and for two years he lived in- the Rio Grande Valley. During part of this time he lived in the house with his mother and part of the time in a small house in the eastern portion of the Peavyhouse tract. On returning from the Rio Grande Valley he moved into a little house near the home place, where he resided until the spring of 1921, when he moved this little house onto hig own 60-aere tract, where he and his family lived until December, 1921, or January, 1922. During the year 1921 he was a tenant of his mother for the 138 acres, cultivating a portion of the land. When he moved back on to the Peavyhouse tract in the winter of 1921-22, he first moved into the house with his mother, who remained there a short while, and then moved out and went to live with another son. Erom that time on she did not live on any of the property, but made occasional [586]*586visits to A. Martin, who remained on the land from the winter of 1921-22, continuously residing on the' Peavyhouse tract with his family, using and cultivating both 'tracts. The deed from Mrs. Martin to A. Martin conveyed her entire 240 acres. The evidence is clear that up to and at the time Mrs. Martin deeded A. Martin the land, the latter was tenant of the former, either from year to year or at will, and he was not then living on any of the property, but moved on to the Peavyhouse as above stated shortly thereafter. The record does not show that either the bank, Shaffer, or appellant had any knowledge or intimation of the existence of Mrs. Martin’s deed, nor any notice thereof further than than which would be imputed from A. Martin’s possession, or the recording of that deed on September 13, 1923, which was after the execution was levied and the property advertised for sale.”

We approve the holding of the Court of Civil Appeals to the effect that the possession by A. Martin of the land in controversy constituted notice to the bank of the title held by him under his unrecorded deed from his mother. It is necessary, therefore, that we discuss only the question whether A. Martin is estopped, by virtue of his fraudulent acts and representations hereinafter stated, from asserting the title held by him to the land in controversy under the deed from his mother. In addition to the facts already stated, the evidence with reference to this question is substantially as follows: The execution was levied upon the 138-acre tract in question with another tract of 80 acres as the property of Mrs. M. N. Martin, and both tracts were advertised to be sold under such execution on October 2, 1923. Astin, the defendant in error, was a neighbor of A. Martin, had lived in the community a long time, and at one time had been a tenant of the M. N. Martin lands and knew in a general way of the partition of the estate of A. Martin’s father. He was acquainted with the two tracts that were set aside to Mrs. M. N. Martin in the petition, and knew that A. Martin, with his family, was and had been living on the land and using and cultivating it. On September 30,1923, A. Martin had a conversation with Astin in which he, in effect, disclaimed any ownership of the land, and induced Astin to buy it in at such execution sale. The wife of A. Martin was not present and knew nothing of such statements and representations of her husband. Astin had Shaffer to buy the property for him at such execution sale, relying on the statements and representations of A. Martin, and without notice of the deed from M. N. Martin other than such constructive notice as the due record of the deed charged him with. As has been stated, this deed was recorded on September 13, 1923, and therefore was duly of record when A. Martin and Astin had the conversation mentioned above. The consideration which A. Martin paid M. N. Martin for the land conveyed to him by this deed was $900.

Ordinarily the occupation and use of land by the husband and wife as a home operate not only as notice of the homestead character of the property, but also of the title or interest to which the homestead rights attach.

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Bluebook (online)
295 S.W. 584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-astin-texcommnapp-1927.