Vieth v. Klett

198 P.2d 314, 88 Cal. App. 2d 23, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1429
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 15, 1948
DocketCiv. No. 16368
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 198 P.2d 314 (Vieth v. Klett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vieth v. Klett, 198 P.2d 314, 88 Cal. App. 2d 23, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1429 (Cal. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

WHITE, J.

This is an appeal by defendant Orilla Klett alone from a judgment enjoining the sale of real estate. No reporter’s transcript has been filed and this appeal is prosecuted upon the judgment roll alone.

Defendant Klett, a judgment creditor of plaintiff Edward J. Vieth, delivered a writ of execution to defendant Sheriff Biseailuz with instructions to sell all the right, title and interest of plaintiff Edward J. Vieth in certain real estate.

Defendant Sheriff Biseailuz advertised the sale for June 30, 1947. On Jnne 27th, plaintiffs filed their complaint to [25]*25restrain defendants from proceeding with the sale of the aforesaid property under the execution and order of sale, and for cancellation of the instructions given to defendant sheriff for the above mentioned sale.

Issue being joined, the cause proceeded to trial before the court sitting without a jury resulting in a judgment enjoining the foregoing sale and cancelling the instructions given to defendant sheriff for such sale.

The rule in this state is that upon a direct appeal from the judgment upon the judgment roll alone, an appellate tribunal must presume that evidence was introduced which would support the findings as made, without any objection upon the part of the losing party, and that the facts were treated by all parties as issues properly before the court at the trial. Where the entire record is before the reviewing court a different situation might be presented (First Trust & Savings Bank v. Warden, 18 Cal.App.2d 131, 133, 134 [63 P.2d 329]).

In the instant case, the facts established by the judgment roll are that on May 8, 1945, respondent Edward J. Vieth, a widower, recorded a declaration of homestead upon his separate real property, upon which he resided with his three minor children.

On July 22, 1945, respondent Edward J. Vieth married respondent Hazel P. Vieth, and thereafter continued to reside upon said property with his wife and the aforesaid minor children.

On September 4, 1945, respondents herein, husband and wife, without consideration, executed a grant deed of said property to one Beverly L. Nicholson, an employee of Thomas Mortgage Company. Following the execution of said grant deed, and on the same day, and as part of the same transaction, Beverly L. Nicholson, also without consideration, executed and delivered to respondents a joint tenancy deed to said property. On November 23, 1945, the two deeds were recorded together and bear consecutive document numbers.

The court found “that said conveyances were executed and delivered by the respective parties for the sole purpose of vesting title in these plaintiffs as joint tenants.” The findings further disclose that appellant Orilla Klett in an action for wrongful death arising out of an automobile accident, obtained a judgment against respondent Edward J. Vieth for $5,872.75. The findings then recite the issuance of execution on May 13, 1947, commanding defendant sheriff to [26]*26sell all right, title and interest of respondent Edward J. Vieth in and to the property herein mentioned, to satisfy the foregoing judgment, and the subsequent advertisement by the sheriff of his intention to proceed with such sale. That the property was not worth more than the sum of $7,500 and was encumbered by a deed of trust upon which there remained an unpaid balance of approximately $3,700.

In the complaint filed herein it was alleged that respondent Edward J. Vieth had never abandoned said homestead at any time, and the court found, “that on the fourth day of September, 1945, and prior thereto, plaintiff Edward J. Vieth and his family, then consisting of himself and his three children, Richard, Ronald and Robert, commenced to occupy the said premises and resided thereon, occupying the same as a homestead, and have at no time since that date had any other residence and have not occupied any other premises since that date.”

It is admitted that appellant Klett failed to comply with the provisions of section 1245 of the Civil Code involving proceedings on execution against homesteads.

Appellant urges that the judgment granting an injunction is not supported by the findings for the asserted reason that no homestead existed upon the property in question, and that compliance with section 1245 of the Civil Code was, therefore, not required. That respondents husband and wife by their grant deed, completely divested themselves of all proprietary interest in the land to which the homestead of May 8, 1945, was attached. That the foregoing grant deed operated as an abandonment of the homestead.

Section 1243 of the Civil Code provides that, “A homestead can be abandoned by a declaration of abandonment, or a grant thereof, executed and acknowledged:

“1. By the husband and wife, if the claimant is married;
“2. By the claimant, if unmarried.”

The rule concerning the abandonment or destruction of a homestead by grant was thus stated by this court in First Trust & Savings Bank v. Warden, supra, page 134:

“... it has long been the rule in this state that the homestead is destroyed whenever the title to all or a portion of the homestead property is transferred to a third party. (Kellersberger v. Kopp, 6 Cal. 563.) This rule has been followed even though the property or a portion thereof was immediately reconveyed to one of the spouses as a part of the same transaction (Carroll v. Ellis, 63 Cal. 440), and the same rule [27]*27has been adhered to even though the conveyance contains a reservation of right of possession and profits during the life of the spouses. (Bank of Suisun v. Stark, 106 Cal. 202 [39 P. 531].)”

Section 1056 of the Civil Code provides that, “A grant cannot be delivered to the grantee conditionally. Delivery to him, or to his agent as such, is necessarily absolute, and the instrument takes effect thereupon, discharged of any condition on which the delivery was made.”

And section 1058 of the Civil Code provides that, “Redelivering a grant deed of real property to the grantor, or canceling it, does not operate to retransfer the title.”

In the case at bar appellant admits that the court found that the conveyance to Beverly L. Niekolson was for the sole purpose of vesting title in respondents as joint tenants through the medium of a deed executed by the former to the latter as part of the same transaction, but relying on the cases of Carroll v. Ellis, 63 Cal. 440, 442, and First Trust & Savings Bank v. Warden, supra, page 134, contends that there was a period of time, though short, during which the title was vested in Beverly L. Niekolson, and that a grant effects an abandonment of the homestead where the grantor divests himself of all property interests to which the homestead was attached regardless of the fact that the property was immediately re-conveyed as part of the same transaction.

Respondents, however, insist that the grant deed executed by them and delivered to Beverly L. Niekolson was a conveyance of the legal title in constructive trust for the use and benefit of respondents, and upon the condition that Beverly L. Niekolson would reconvey the property to the respondents as joint tenants.

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Bluebook (online)
198 P.2d 314, 88 Cal. App. 2d 23, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vieth-v-klett-calctapp-1948.