Price v. McAnelly

287 S.W. 77
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 6, 1926
DocketNo. 7589. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 287 S.W. 77 (Price v. McAnelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Price v. McAnelly, 287 S.W. 77 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

SMITH, J.

On October 15, 1879, P. Mc-Anelly conveyed 836 acres of land in Medina county to his son, P. E. McAnelly, then a single man, for a recited consideration “of the sum of $125 to be paid to (the grantor) annually during the term of (the grantor’s) natural life.” The conveyance was made by general warranty deed, in which the vendor’s lien was reserved “to secure the prompt payment of the said amount of money at such times and in the manner above specified.” Two years later P. E. McAnelly was married to Mary J. Redus.

On September 4, 1884, the same grantor conveyed the same land by general warranty I deed to the same grantee, for a recited consideration of $5,016 in cash. The record discloses no reason for, or explanation of, the second conveyance, in which no reference was made to the first conveyance.

Mary Redus, wife of P. E. McAnelly, died intestate in 1908, survived by seven children and her husband, who died in 1915, leaving a will in which he in effect devised his estate in equal shares to his children, among whom was R. R. McAnelly, who had married Ada Davis in 1911.

Under the terms of his will, the estate of P. E. McAnelly was partitioned among his children in 1917. The 836 acres which had been conveyed to the testator in the two deeds mentioned was apportioned in shares of 290 acres to R. R., 290 acres to Ivy, and 256 acres to Stanley McAnelly, and in October, 1918, Ivy conveyed her share to R. R., whereby the latter’s holding in the 836-acre tract was increased to 580 acres.

Shortly prior to his death — that is, on August 1, 1915 — P. E. McAnelly executed his promissory note in the sum of $4,000 to Fannie L. Price, together with a deed of trust upon the 836 acres to secure the payment of the note, which was for borrowed money. In this deed of trust the power of sale was placed in the trustee. This note and deed of trust lien were outstanding when P. E. McAnelly died, when the property was partitioned, and when R. R. McAnelly purchased Ivy Mc-Anelly’s portion of 290 acres out of the 836, for $836 cash and the assumption by the purchaser of the note due Mrs. Price.

When the estate was partitioned in 1917, R. R. McAnelly sought to establish a homestead for himself and family upon the 580 acres received by him in the partition and in the purchase from Ivy McAnelly.

The note executed in 1915 by P. E. Mc-Anelly for $4,000 matured in July, 1918, but the heirs were unable to pay it, and R. R. McAnelly, appellee, asked for an extension from Mrs. Price. This extension was effectuated through a new note and deed of trust executed by R. R. McAnelly and wife, conveying their 580 acres of the original body of 836 acres; and by separate instrument Mrs. Price released the deed of trust lien from the remaining acreage. In these negotiations McAnelly borrowed an additional $800 from Mrs. Price, ostensibly for .the purpose of paying the purchase price of the 290 acres R. R. obtained from Ivy McAnelly. To include this additional loan, the new note was made for $4,800, in lieu of the original obligation for $4,000, and the new deed of trust was made to co-ordinate with the new obligation.

On March 17, 1922, R. R. McAnelly was adjudged a bankrupt in the United States District Court at San Antonio, and on April 22, following, the trustee set apart a specifically described 200 acres of the 580 acres in *79 volved as being exempt as tbe homestead of the MeAnellys.

Prior to July 4, 1922, the 580 acres had been twice advertised for sale by the trustee under the terms of the deed of trust, but the sales thereunder had been postponed at the instance of the trustee in bankruptcy, acting upon request of appellee, in order to give the latter an opportunity to sell the property to better advantage at private sale. These efforts failed, however, and the trustee under the deed of trust again advertised the property, and, with the knowledge and acquiescence of McAnelly and the trustee in bankruptcy, the entire 580 acres were sold on July 4, 1922, at public sale, to appellant, Mrs. Price, the holder of the note and deed of trust lien, for approximately the amount of the note, including interest and attorney’s fees, whereupon Mrs. Price took possession of the property, with McAnelly’s acquiescence. The MeAnellys made no objection to this sale, and made no effort to require the trustee to first sell the nonexempt portion of the property before offering the homestead. No part of the first or second notes in question was ever paid or tendered to the holder and mortgagee, and no offer thereto was made in McAnelly’s pleadings in this litigation.

Subsequently Mrs. Price brought this suit in the form of trespass to try title against R. R. McAnelly and his wife, to recover title and possession of the property in controversy, alleging in the alternative that she was a mortgagee in possession, and praying for foreclosure of the deed of trust lien to secure the payment of the $4,800 note.

In a trial without a jury the court below rendered judgment for Mrs. Price for 380 acres of the 580 acres involved, and for the MeAnellys for the remaining 200 acres, free of incumbrance, found to constitute the homestead of the latter, and for $250 damages, and the court canceled both notes and deeds of trust.

Mrs. Price alone has appealed. Appellees have brought forward no cross-assignments of error, and no complaint is made by them of that portion of the judgment decreeing title in appellant to 3S0 of the 580 acres originally involved in the suit. This appeal therefore concerns only the remaining 200 acres decreed to appellees as their homestead.

At the outset it becomes appropriate to determine the relative effects of the two conveyances from P. McAnelly to P. E. McAnelly, the first having been executed and delivered prior to the latter’s marriage, and the second after his marriage. The question is material in determining if the land thus conveyed was the separate property of P. E. McAnelly, or the community property of the latter and his wife. Both conveyances were by general warranty deed; the property conveyed and the grantor and grantee being identical in the two instruments. The recited consideration for the first conveyance was the payment of $125 annually to the grantor during his natural life, and .the recited consideration for the second conveyance was $5,016 in cash. In the first conveyance the vendor’s lien was reserved, whereas the second conveyance was absolute. The record is silent as to why the second deed was executed. It may have been intended as a new contract between the parties and .substituted for the original contract, or as a release of the lien reserved in the first instrument. It may be that the recited consideration for the second deed was paid out of P. E. McAfielly’s separate funds, or out of community funds, or in the nature of advancements from P. E. McAnelly’s parents, or in settlement of old obligations between them. These are matters of mere conjecture, of course; but the record supplies no better basis for decision. P. E. McAnelly married within two years after the first deed was made and recorded, and before he was required under the terms of the instrument to pay more than $125 of the purchase price of the 836 acres of land involved. The second deed was executed within three years after the marriage.

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Bluebook (online)
287 S.W. 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/price-v-mcanelly-texapp-1926.