Simpson v. Simpson

123 So. 2d 289
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 7, 1960
Docket1756
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 123 So. 2d 289 (Simpson v. Simpson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simpson v. Simpson, 123 So. 2d 289 (Fla. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

123 So.2d 289 (1960)

Wanda Louise SIMPSON, a widow, Appellant,
v.
Ethel May SIMPSON, Appellee.

No. 1756.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

September 7, 1960.
Rehearing Denied October 7, 1960.

*290 Joseph W. Bradham, Jr., of Ramseur & Bradham, St. Petersburg, for appellant.

Thomas V. Kiernan, St. Petersburg, for appellee.

ALLEN, Chief Judge.

This is the second time the parties in the present suit have been before this court. In the first case the mortgagee, Ethel Mae Simpson, had filed her claim for $10,000 against the Estate of M.C. Simpson by reason of a note and mortgage given by the deceased. No objections to the claim were raised. The estate had sufficient funds to satisfy the claim but after the time for objections had passed, Ethel May Simpson withdrew her claim stating that she would enforce her mortgage lien against the property and would waive all right of a deficiency claim against the estate. See In re Simpson's Estate, Fla.App., 1959, 113 So.2d 766.

M.C. Simpson, then a single man, executed and delivered to his mother, Ethel May Simpson, his promissory note payable on demand in the principal sum of $10,000 and as security for this note executed to his mother a mortgage on his home which he owned. The mortgage was recorded on December 2, 1953.

At the time the note and mortgage were executed, the mother had not advanced any of the $10,000 but the parties had agreed that the money would be made available upon request.

On December 7, 1956, M.C. Simpson married the appellant, Wanda Louise Simpson, and the parties soon thereafter established the home owned by M.C. Simpson as their homestead.

On January 2, 1957, M.C. Simpson requested his mother to pay over to him the sum of $10,000, which she did. Wanda Louise Simpson never joined in the note and mortgage and also at this time the mother, Ethel May Simpson, was aware of the fact that the property was now homestead property.

M.C. Simpson died on May 7, 1957, survived by his widow, the appellant, and two children by a former marriage.

The lower court found that the mortgage was a valid claim against the homestead property and entered a final decree of foreclosure in favor of the mortgage holder. This apparently is a case of first impression in Florida.

The appellee insists that the mortgage was for future advances valid at the time the mortgage was recorded, which was prior to the marriage of the mortgagor.

The appellant contends that there was no lien on the property until after the $10,000 was paid over to the mortgagor at his request, which was subsequent to his marriage to the appellant.

Section 697.04, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides:

"(1) Hereafter, any mortgage or other instrument given for the purpose of creating a lien on real or personal property, or both, including agricultural, horticultural, or fruit crops, planted, growing, or to be planted, grown, or raised, to secure agricultural loans, or loans of any other character, may secure not only existing indebtedness but also such future advances, whether obligatory or otherwise, as are made within ten years from the date *291 thereof, to the same extent as if such future advances were made on the date of the execution of such mortgage or other instrument, although there may be no indebtedness outstanding at the time any advance is made. Such lien, as to third persons without actual notice thereof, shall be valid as to all such indebtedness and future advances from the time the mortgage or other instrument is filed for record as provided by law. The total amount of indebtedness that may be so secured may decrease or increase from time to time, but the total unpaid balance so secured at any one time shall not exceed a maximum principal amount which must be specified in such mortgage or other instrument, plus interest thereon, and any disbursements made for the payment of taxes, levies, or insurance on the property covered by the lien, with interest on such disbursements. This section shall not apply to any mortgages, shipping contracts, or other instruments made and given by naval stores operators and producers to secure existing loans and future advances by naval stores factors.
"(2) As against the rights of creditors or subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration, actual notice or record notice of advances to be made at the option of the lender, under the terms of such mortgage or other instrument, shall be valid only as to such advances as are to be made within ten years from the date of such mortgage or other instrument; provided that this section shall not apply to any mortgages, shipping contracts, or other instruments made and given by naval stores operators and producers to secure existing loans and future advances by naval stores factors.
"(3) Any such mortgage or other instrument shall be prior in dignity to all subsequent encumbrances, including statutory liens, except landlords' liens."

Courts and text writers have expressed a diversity of opinion on the question of the validity of mortgages to secure future advances, and as to the rights of mortgagees under such mortgages against subsequent purchasers and incumbrancers. Although formerly such mortgages were looked upon with disdain, their validity is now fully recognized and established. In the United States the weight of authority supports mortgages made in good faith for the purpose of securing future debts or future obligations as creating liens from the time the debts thereunder accrue except where local law prohibits. Thompson on Real Property, Vol. 9, section 4747, (1958 Replacement).

The cases are not harmonious, however, on the issues involving the necessity that the advance be obligatory, whether the mortgage itself must indicate the future advance or the extent thereof and priorities as respects third parties. The cases in Florida have not always consistently followed the same view. In Guaranty Title & Trust Co. v. Thompson, 1927, 93 Fla. 983, 113 So. 117, 120, the court observed:

"The question now under consideration should not be confused with a determination of the priorities between the statutory lien of a materialman or laborer, on the one hand, and a mortgage to secure future advances on the other (see Flynn-Harris-Bullard Co. v. Johnson, 90 Fla. 654, 107 So. 358; Griffith v. Hulion, 90 Fla. 582, 107 So. 354; Jones on Mortgages (7th Ed.) § 373); nor between a statutory lien of the character stated, on the one hand, and on the other a previously recorded mortgage executed to secure the payment of a loan or other indebtedness made or created prior to or contemporaneously with the execution of the mortgage, the consideration for which mortgage, by agreement of the parties, is temporarily retained, wholly or in part, by the mortgagee, but is actually and bona fide disbursed or paid over to the mortgagor at a time subsequently to *292 the time when the materialman's lien attached. In those cases, the general rule is that such a mortgage takes priority as a lien from the date of its record, and not from the date of the disbursements by the mortgagee to the mortgagor for the full amount of the indebtedness actually and in good faith incurred under and secured by the mortgage, not exceeding, however, the maximum amount the mortgagee is obligated to loan or advance by the terms of the mortgage, and of which the recorded mortgage affords constructive notice. Such mortgage is a potential lien for the full amount the mortgagee is obligated to advance under its terms.

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123 So. 2d 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simpson-v-simpson-fladistctapp-1960.