Shone v. Bellmore

78 So. 605, 75 Fla. 515
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 8, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 78 So. 605 (Shone v. Bellmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shone v. Bellmore, 78 So. 605, 75 Fla. 515 (Fla. 1918).

Opinion

Ellis, J.

Theresa Bellmore in her own right and as next friend of her minor son Samuel Rhodes brought a suit in chancery in the Circuit Court for Dade County against the appellants and others.

The purpose- of the bill was to obtain a decree declaring the will of Samuel Rhodes deceased, the former husband of Theresa Bellmore and the father of Samuel Rhodes, minor, to be void as an attempt to devise a homestead; to set aside the homestead to the use of the widow and child; and to declare certain deeds which purport to convey part of the lands covered by the homestead to be null and void.

The appeal is taken .by some of the defendants named in the amended bill of complaint and by some who are named as defendants in the original bill but not named as defendants in the amended bill, from an order overruling their demurrers to the amended bill.

A great many points of law were presented by the demurrers, one of which contained twenty-five, and another forty-five grounds. These demurrers however were all general demurrers in that they were addressed to the bill as a' whole, although there are some grounds [517]*517which might have been spécially directed to certain portions of the bill as amended.

Following the settled rule in this jurisdiction therefore we will confine our investigation to the inquiry whether there is equity in the amended bill of complaint, and if the bill appears to rest upon any equitable ground we shall affirm the chancellor’s order. Of course if there is no equity in the bill the order should be reversed and the bill dismissed or leave be given to amend. See Prince v. Mahin, 73 Fla. 525, 74 South. Rep. 696; Mitchell v. Mason, 65 Fla. 208, 61 South. Rep. 579; Carlton v. Hilliard, 64 Fla. 228, 60 South. Rep. 220.

A demurrer to the whole bill in equity operats as an admission that all such matters of fact as are well and sufficiently pleaded in the bill are true, allegations of law are not admitted by the demurrer.' Capital City Bank v. Hilson, 64 Fla. 206, 60 South. Rep. 189.

It appears from the allegations of the bill that Samuel Rhodes was the owner of a tract of land, not within the limits of any incorporated city or town; that on November 11, 1898, two days before he was married he caused the land to be platted. On November 15, 1898, two days after his marriage he caused this plat to be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Dade County. This plat was duly recorded and shows that the' lands were divided into blocks and lots varying in dimensions and into streets and “avenues;” that on the 13th day of November; 1898, he and the complainant Theresa Bell-more were married and they lived upon the land as their homestead until May 4, 1900, when Samuel Rhodes died. He left a will in which he devised to his sister certain lots of land in Section 14, T. 54 S. R. 41 E. in payment of a debt he owed her, and empowered his executors to execute a deed to her therefor; to his wife Theresa he [518]*518devised all the remainder of his real and personal property to be held for her in trust by Mrs. Ellen Fox and George L. McDonald with power to “sell and convey for the best prices and in such parcels-as they may deem to ' the interest” of his estate and for his wife. Then follows a description of- the land. The will provided that the trustees should continue until his wife should attain' the age of tWenty-flve years when they should render a full' account of ‘ their acts and doings, and execute to her a deed-for all'the real estate which may then be held by them under the will. The same persons were appointed executors.' By a codicil dated about a month later he appointed John A. McDonald as one of his executors, to have the “same power and authority already given to the other two.”

' It appears from the amended bill of complaint that the will was duly admitted to probate and that five months after his death his wife gave birth to a son, who is one of the complainants to the bill by his mother as next friend.

Paragraph one of the bill describes certain blocks and lots according to the above mentioned plat as having been occupied by Samuel Rhodes at the time of his death as his homestead, that said blocks and lots were “contiguous, lying in a body and each piece thereof adjacent to some other part or parcel thereof.” The plat is attached to the bill as an exhibit and is made a part thereof. This plat shows that' many of the lots and blocks are separated by streets, but wherever that is the case it appears that the deceased owned the lots or blocks on each side of the street.

After the death of Rhodes his widow executed a deed of conveyance to Varnon Price-Williams to many of the lots. It appears that other lots “had been conveyed,” [519]*519presumably before Rhodes’ death, to Mary E. Peacock and J. S. Pent, and that certain other lots had at the time of Rhodes death certain mortgages unpaid and outstanding, against them. These' mortgages were after-wards foreclosed and certain other lots were sold under executions issued upon deficiency decrees against George L. McDonald as Trustee, and George L., and John A. McDonald as executors of the will. That, the platted lands described as blocks and lots comprised 160 acres, and were “held and occupied” by Rhodes as his homestead at the time of his death. That some of- the defendants named in the bill claimed title to certain lots under the sheriff’s deeds made under the deficiency decrees, others claimed title under deeds executed by George L. McDonald as trustee, one other, Vernon Price-Williams, under a deed from the complainant Theresa, and other defendants whó are named as defendants in their official capacity as county commisisoners claim title to certain of the lands finder tax deeds. It appears from the bill as amended that the complainant Theresa after the death of her husband remained “at the home of the deceased” for about eight months after which she moved with her infant" son to the city of Miami. Afterwards she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and other places out of the State from time to time, until September, 1906, when she married her present husband J. A. Bellmore, and in 1914, they, moved to Dade county which is her present place of residence.

The prayer of the amended bill of complaint is as follows: “that a homestead may be declared and defined for the use and benefit of complainants, consisting of one hundred sixty acres of lands hereinbefore described, of which said Samuel Rhodes, deceased, died seized and possessed of, and which he occupied as his homestead [520]

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Bluebook (online)
78 So. 605, 75 Fla. 515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shone-v-bellmore-fla-1918.