Wilkerson v. Aven

144 P. 1105, 26 Idaho 559, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 101
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 3, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 144 P. 1105 (Wilkerson v. Aven) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkerson v. Aven, 144 P. 1105, 26 Idaho 559, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 101 (Idaho 1914).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, C. J.

This action was brought by the plaintiff as trustee of the estate of H. B. Aven, a bankrupt, to quiet title to a tract of land consisting of about eleven acres in Orchard Heights Addition to the town of Caldwell, Canyon county. The cause was tried by the court without a jury and findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment entered in favor of the plaintiff, quieting the title in him as trustee. The appeal is from the judgment.

[561]*561The principal assignment of error is that the evidence is not sufficient to support findings Nos. 3, 5, 6 and 7.

The evidence shows that the appellant, Myrtle F. Aven, was the wife of the bankrupt H. B. Aven; that they were married in the year 1893; that they lived on a homestead in Deer Flat not far from the town of Caldwell for a period of about nine years, beginning in 1894; that shortly after their marriage the appellant’s father gave her $100 in cash which she invested in one cow with a suckling calf, a heifer, three brood sows and a dozen chickens, which were taken to and kept on said homestead; that during that time the husband managed, controlled and cared for said livestock and its increase, selling a part of it at times and accounting to the appellant; that the husband retained the money from the sale of the stock so sold and used the same in the operation of said farm; that after leaving the ranch in about 1903, they took some of the stock with them to Caldwell and kept it there and finally sold the last of it in 1907, some three or four years after they had left the ranch; that after the last of it was sold, a settlement was had between the husband and wife and the amount due appellant was agreed upon; that both husband and wife testified that there was a settlement between them about 1907, and according to their best recollection it was agreed that there was between twelve and thirteen hundred dollars due appellant; that they kept a book part of the time of the amount received from the sales of such property and what it cost to feed the stock; that the cost of the feed was deducted from the price the cattle, hogs, etc., brought; that no other cattle, hogs or chickens were kept on the homestead but those purchased with said $100 and their increase; that the husband began to repay the appellant in small sums; that there was an agreement between them that the appellant should have as her separate property her personal earnings which she might derive from keeping roomers and a part of what she might derive from keeping boarders, and the sums for which said property sold, less the cost of the feed they consumed.

The evidence shows that appellant opened a savings account with the Caldwell Banking & Trust Company, the [562]*562predecessor in interest of the Caldwell Commercial Bank, on July 24, 1907, and at the time she purchased the land in question, viz., December 27, 1909, she had in that savings account $726.94; that the purchase price of said land was about $1650 and in order to make a cash payment of $1000 at the time she purchased the land, she borrowed $250 from the bank on her note and her husband paid her $50 on the debt he owed her, the appellant later paying the note of $250 to the bank from her savings, and she thereafter mortgaged the land for $650, from the proceeds of which loan she paid the balance of the purchase price. It appears that her said husband signed said mortgage with her. About the time, or shortly after, of removing from the ranch to the town of Caldwell, the husband entered into some kind of merchandising and was engaged in that business up to the 30th day of January, 1912, when he was adjudged to be a bankrupt under the bankrupt laws of the United States. From the time plaintiff’s said husband entered into the mercantile business until he was declared a bankrupt, his indebtedness to the bank varied from four to about eight thousand dollars. The cashier of the bank was one of the parties who made the sale of this land to the appellant and knew all about her husband’s indebtedness to the bank and her savings account as kept in said bank.

Under that state of facts the question is directly presented as to whether said land was community property and as such whether the trustee in bankruptcy was entitled to take and apply the proceeds thereof in the satisfaction of the bankrupt’s indebtedness.

It is provided by sec. 2676, Rev. Codes, that all property owned by the wife before marriage, and that acquired afterward by gift, bequest or descent, or that which she shall acquire with the proceeds of her separate property, shall remain her sole and separate property, to the same extent and with the same effect, as the property of a husband similarly acquired. See. 2679 provides that all property owned by the husband before marriage, and that acquired by gift, bequest, devise or descent is his separate property. Sec. [563]*5632680 provides that all other property acquired after marriage by either husband or wife, including the rents and profits of the separate property of the husband and wife, is community property, unless by the instrument by which any such property is acquired by the wife it is provided that the rents and profits thereof be applied to her sole and separate use. Sec. 4479 provides for exemptions in favor of a married woman and that all real and personal estate belonging to her at the time of her marriage, or to which she subsequently becomes entitled in her own right, and all rents, issues and profits thereof, and all compensation due and owing her for personal service is exempt from execution against her husband.

Said sections all construed together contemplate that the wife’s separate property and the increase thereof cannot be applied to the payment of her husband’s debts on execution. A bankruptcy proceeding places the estate of the bankrupt under the control of the law as effectually as it could be placed by an execution or attachment, and clearly the law does not contemplate that the property of a married woman or the rents, issues and profits thereof, can be applied by judicial proceeding in the form of a judgment and execution in the payment of her husband’s debts.

The appellant’s father gave her $100 in cash and she purchased with it a cow, calf, heifer, three sows and a dozen chickens. That livestock was taken upon the homestead of the appellant and her husband and it was cared for, and its increase, which must have amounted to considerable in twelve or thirteen years, was fed and nurtured on the products raised on the farm, and as we gather from the evidence, the value of the grain and hay fed the stock was deducted from the total sales, and in the settlement between the husband and wife in regard thereto, it was agreed that the wife was entitled to between twelve and thirteen hundred dollars for the money that the husband had received on such sales.

So far as the evidence shows, up to the time she purchased said land in 1909, she had saved from her own earnings with what her husband had paid her on what he owed her, about [564]*564$726, and on the day she purchased the land the husband paid her $50 on the indebtedness of between twelve and thirteen hundred dollars. At that time she borrowed from the bank $250 and applied that, together with $750 of her savings account in the bank, in the payment of $1,000 on said land. Thereafter she mortgaged said land for about $650 and paid the balance of the purchase price therefor from the proceeds of such loan.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P. 1105, 26 Idaho 559, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkerson-v-aven-idaho-1914.