Preston v. Smith

293 S.W.2d 51, 41 Tenn. App. 222
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 20, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 293 S.W.2d 51 (Preston v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Preston v. Smith, 293 S.W.2d 51, 41 Tenn. App. 222 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

SHRIVER, J.

Parties will be referred to as the plaintiffs, and defendants as they appeared in the Court below.

I

This is an ejectment suit to recover 60 acres of land in Smith County.

Complainants assert title to the land as the collateral heirs at law of one John Preston, who died intestate in the year 19S0, while the defendants claim the same land as collateral heirs at law of Mrs. Maltie Smith Preston, wife of the said John Preston, she having died intestate in the year 1954.

John Preston and Maltie Smith Preston were married in 1908 and never had any children.

*225 They moved on the farm involved herein in 1910 and lived thereon as their home, together, until John Preston died in October 1950.

Maltie Smith Preston continued living on this land and operated it as a farm, after John Preston’s death, until she died in June 1954.

Homestead and dower were never set apart to the widow.

The material facts are not in dispute.

Possession of the land in question from 1910 until the death of J ohn Preston in 1950 was adverse in character. This was alleged in the bill and averred in the answer, substantiated by the proof and found as a fact by the Chancellor.

There was no proof of a purchase of the land by the husband and wife, or either of them, and there is no deed or other muniment of title in the record, hence, title in either or both of these parties is dependent upon 20 years adverse possession without color of title.

Complainants seek to recover the land from the defendants on the theory that John Preston acquired title to it by 20 years exclusive possession of same, adversely to the whole world.

Defendants aver that John Preston and wife purchased the land described in the bill, jointly, and held same as tenants by the entirety. They further aver that Maltie Smith Preston had property of her own and that she and her husband had an agreement that they would use her property with what he had, to buy this land, and that they would own it jointly, the survivor to take the whole of it.

*226 It may be stated in this connection that tbe proof does not substantiate tbe averments in tbe answer as to tbe purchase of tbe land or that tbe wife’s money was used in tbe purchase of same.

Defendants denied that John Preston held tbe land adversely to bis wife but aver that he and bis wife jointly held tbe land adversely from 1910 until tbe death of John Preston on October 1, 1950 and that, after bis death, Maltie Smith Preston continued to occupy it as hers, adversely, until her death.

II

The Chancellor held that it was a joint adverse possession of tbe husband and wife, in consequence of which they acquired prescriptive title to tbe land as tenants in common, with tbe result that tbe heirs at law of John Preston are now, collectively, tbe owners of a one half undivided interest therein, and that tbe heirs at law of Maltie Smith Preston are, collectively, tbe owners of tbe other one half undivided interest in same.

Both complainants and defendants have appealed and have assigned errors.

Ill

Assignments of Error.

Tbe complainants’ assignments of error-go to tbe proposition that, at common law, tbe legal existence of tbe wife was merged and incorporated in that of tbe bus-band, they being one in contemplation of law, and that tbe joint, naked adverse possession of land by husband and wife was a legal impossibility; that tbe possession of *227 land occupied by husband and wife, whether before or subsequent to the passage of the Married Woman’s Emancipation Act, Code, sec. 8460, is, in law, the possession of the husband as the head of the family.

It is, therefore, assigned as error that the Court failed to find in favor of the complainants as the heirs at law of John Preston, and in taxing the complainants with half of the costs of the suit.

On the other hand, the defendants assigned as error the action of the Chancellor in holding that John Preston and his wife held and owned this land as tenants in common ; it being asserted by the defendants that, as husband and wife, they became tenants by the entirety, and, upon John Preston’s death, the property was that of the wife alone.

It is further assigned as error that the chancellor failed and refused to hold that the complainants were guilty of laches and were estopped from setting up their claim to this land by reason of the fact that they waited until June 1954, after the death of Maltie Smith Preston, before asserting their claim.

Certain errors are assigned in respect to the rulings of the Chancellor on evidence offered by the parties.

IV

Thus, the questions to be determined here are (1), whether the naked adverse possession of land occupied by a husband and wife, beginning in 1910, resulted in a prescriptive title in the husband alone, after the expiration of the 20 years or, (2), as is insisted by defendants, did such adverse possession result in title in them as tenants by the entirety, or, (3), did it result in title in the husband *228 and wife as tenants in common, as was Reid by the Chancellor.

V

1. Twenty years continuous adverse possession of land under claim of right has the legal effect of vesting the possessor with the fee simple title thereto.

This proposition is so well settled that it is unnecessary to cite authorities in support thereof.

2. The Chancellor, in considering this case, rendered a memorandum opinion and finding facts where he said:

“Complainants claim possession enured to John alone, while defendants insist it was a joint possession.
“The burden of proof is of course on the complainants. The complainants cannot rely on the weakness of defendants ’ title. The determinative question appears to be whether, under the facts, John Preston held adversely and to the exclusion of his wife. Was it the adverse possession of John alone to the exclusion of his wife Maltie, with the result that he alone acquired title to the land by prescription?
“There was no grant or devise. Therefore, it is my opinion that title did not vest in J ohn and Maltie as tenants by the entirety. No authority is cited or found that an estate by entirety can arise by prescription. It is also true, as I understand, the law, that a husband can not hold adversely to his wife, and there is proof in the record which indicates J ohn was not claiming or holding adversely to his wife, however, it is insisted by complainants that, in the absence of any showing of any interest or estate in the *229 wife in her own right, the legal possession was that of the hnshand alone, as the head of the family, before and after the passage of the Woman’s Emancipation Act.

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Bluebook (online)
293 S.W.2d 51, 41 Tenn. App. 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/preston-v-smith-tennctapp-1956.