Moehling v. Heirs of Vogt

9 N.E.2d 585, 291 Ill. App. 285, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 479
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 30, 1937
DocketGen. No. 39,256
StatusPublished

This text of 9 N.E.2d 585 (Moehling v. Heirs of Vogt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moehling v. Heirs of Vogt, 9 N.E.2d 585, 291 Ill. App. 285, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 479 (Ill. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hebel

delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause is in this court upon the direction of the Supreme Court that it was without jurisdiction to consider the cause on appeal of the appellants (plaintiffs).

From the record, which was transferred to this court, it appears that the plaintiffs (appellants) Henry Moehling, George Wilson, and Charles Langhoff, as trustees of schools of Township 42, Range 10, Cook county, Illinois, are prosecuting an appeal from a decree entered in the circuit court of Cook county in the above entitled cause on February 6, 1936, by which decree a former decree entered in the same cause on October 8, 1935, was amended.

The plaintiffs in their official capacity, on May 21, 1935, filed their bill of complaint for the foreclosure of a mortgage. The complaint averred in substance that on May 10, 1929, Fred Vogt, fir., and Emma Vogt, his wife, executed and delivered their principal note in the sum of $2,500 and 10 interest notes; that they were the owners of the premises on which this mortgage was a lien and that on the same day, to secure the indebtedness, they executed, acknowledged and delivered their trust deed, which was filed for record on June 17, 1929, and by the trust deed conveyed the premises in question to secure the payment of the notes above described; that Fred Vogt, Jr., departed this life and no estate was probated; that default had been made in payment of interest, principal and taxes, and upon such default this suit of foreclosure was instituted; that the heirs and devisees of Fred Vogt, Jr., were made parties defendant to this bill, as were other persons interested, who were made parties defendant as “Unknown Owners.”

Defendant Emma Vogt and certain other defendants were personally served with summons, and the “Unknown Heirs and Devisees of Fred Vogt, Jr.,” and “Unknown Owners” were served by publication, as provided by law. On July 12, 1935, the defendants were defaulted for want of an appearance. Thereafter, on August 23, 1935, by stipulation, the default against Emma Vogt was set aside, and leave granted to her to file her answer without prejudice to a reference to a master theretofore made on July 12,1935.

On August 29, 1935, Emma Vogt filed her answer to the complaint, by which, under oath, she admitted the allegations of the complaint as to the execution of the notes and trust deed, and the waiver of homestead, and denied certain other allegations not material to the question before this court.

The master’s report filed on October 8, 1935, contained certain findings of fact and conclusions of law, including a finding that the trust deed was, on May 10, 1929, duly acknowledged by Fred Vogt, Jr., and Emma Vogt, his wife, including release and waiver of the right of homestead, and recommendation that a decree of foreclosure be entered by the court; that on October 8,1935, the court entered a decree directing that a sale of the property described in the decree be had in the event the indebtedness found to be due was not satisfied.

It also appears from the record that Emma Vogt, after a period of 29 days, was granted leave to file á petition to vacate and modify the decree of October 8, 1935, that the petition sets up the fact that from the face of the trust deed it appears it was acknowledged by Emma Vogt and her husband before a notary public, and states as a fact that such trust deed had never been acknowledged by either herself or her husband before a notary public, and that her attention was first called to this fact and disclosed from an examination of the record.

It further appears from her petition that she alleges she never released or waived her right of homestead in the premises, and that she intends to maintain and claim the same as her homestead for the maintenance of herself and her children; that in presenting this petition she and her attorney have acted with all possible expedition in presenting the facts, and that they have not been guilty of laches in presenting this matter for consideration of the court, and therefore petitioner prays that the court enter an order that the homestead rights of the petitioner be preserved by the court in whatever proceedings or decrees should be entered herein, and that the petitioner have such other relief as to equity should seem meet. To this petition is attached the affidavit of Emma Vogt, which was sworn to by her, as appears from the petition itself.

To the petition the plaintiffs filed an answer on December 5, 1936, denying the allegations of the petition and charging that the petitioner was not informed that the deed was not acknowledged until October 24, 1935. The answer further averred that the execution and acknowledgment of the trust deed was admitted by the sworn answer of Emma Vogt, and that the trust deed was admitted in evidence without objection after it was submitted to counsel for Emma Vogt. The answer also avers that the defendants, Fred Vogt, Jr., and Emma Vogt, did execute and acknowledge the said trust deed when the loan was made, and that Emma Vogt was not entitled to the relief prayed for in her petition.

The petition of Emma Vogt was amended on January 16 and January 17, 1936, from which it appears that the premises were owned by Fred Vogt, Jr., and occupied as a homestead; that he acquired title by inheritance through his father, and that upon the death of Fred Vogt, Jr., title passed to his wife and children, and that said wife and children continued to occupy the premises as a homestead.

The trial court entered the following findings in the amendment entered February 6, 1936, to the decree of October 8,1935:

“3. That the son of * Emma Vogt’s attorney on October 24, 1935, accidentally discovered that the trust deed being foreclosed herein as filed of record in the Recorder’s office of Cook County, Illinois, and as shown by the photostatic recording thereof in said office, bore no certificate of acknowledgment by the grantors therein; that prior thereto said attorney was not aware of said lack of acknowledgment; that he immediately informed said Emma Vogt thereof, and that she then informed him that neither she nor her deceased husband had ever acknowledged said trust deed or released or waived their homestead rights, and that she had never seen said trust deed from the time it was executed up to said 24th day of October, 1935; that said Emma Vogt thereupon with due expedition, filed her petition herein to vacate said decree; that at the original hearing before the Master, the attorney for plaintiffs was the only witness; that he testified under oath that said trust deed was duly acknowledged by the grantors before a Notary Public who duly attached his certificate of acknowledgment thereto, and was recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds; that said trust deed was by him introduced in evidence, bearing a certificate of recordation and of acknowledgment in due form and appearing on its face to be genuine and true.
“4. That the trust deed being foreclosed herein was dated and executed May 10, 1929, but was not recorded until June 17, 1929, up to which latter date the photostatic recordation establishes that it had not been acknowledged and that the owners of the property, Fred Vogt, Jr., and Emma Vogt, his wife, who had signed the trust deed, had not in fact acknowledged or released or waived the right of homestead as provided by statute.

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9 N.E.2d 585, 291 Ill. App. 285, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moehling-v-heirs-of-vogt-illappct-1937.