Winn v. Strickland

34 Fla. 610
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 34 Fla. 610 (Winn v. Strickland) 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
Winn v. Strickland, 34 Fla. 610 (Fla. 1894).

Opinion

Mabry, J.,

(after stating the facts):

The object of the bill in this case is the cancellation, as a cloud upon the title to the lands therein described, of -the deed made under the mortgage foreclosure proceedings referred to in the statement filed with this opinion.

It is contended for appellee that appellants were not in possession of the lands when the bill was filed by them, and hence they have no status in a court of chancery. The lands in question are not wild or uncultivated, nor are they alleged so to be. It is essential that a complainant in such a case should be in possession in order to maintain a bill to remove an instrument as a cloud upon the title to his real estate. Sloan vs. Sloan, 25 Fla., 53, 5 South. Rep., 603; Haworth vs. Norris, 28 Fla., 763, 10 South Rep., 18; Patton vs. Crumpler, 29 Fla., 573, 11 South. Rep., 225.

Before giving our conclusion on the point presented, a statement of the testimony bearing thereon becomes necessary. Appellee introduced a certified copy of certain proceedings had on the chancery side of the Superior Court of the Southern Circuit of Georgia, for Thomas county. The object of the suit in Thomas county was to reform a deed executed by James N. Winn to J. J. Blackshear, in his own right and as guardian for F. J. Winn and Mary C. Sloan, minor heirs of Thomas B. Winn, deceased, and also to have a specific performance of certain agreements to convey lands in pursuance of an alleged division between the parties to the suit. F. J. Winn is complainant in the petition, and it is therein alleged that Elizabeth Winn, James N. Winn, Harriet E. Winn and Mary O. Winn were the heirs at law of Joseph S. Neely, deceased, and that Harriet E. had married Janies J. Black-[621]*621shear, who, by the then laws of Georgia, took titles to her interest; that in June, 1866, James. N. Winn gave his certain deed to James J. Black-shear for himself and as guardian for F. J. Winn and Mary C. Winn, whereby the said James conveyed all his right, title and interest in and to all the lands comprising the home place of said Neely, situated in. Thomas county, Georgia, and which are particularly described in the petition, and that a mistake had been made in describing the lands in said deed, and certain-described lands situated in Thomas county were embraced therein that should not have been inserted, and certain other lands situated in said county intended to be conveyed were left out; that afterwards Mary C. married John H. Sloan before the death of decedent Neely, and since the act of 1866, and subsequently sold her interest in and to said lands to Harriet É. Blackshear, but did not give her deed for the same; that afterwards a division in kind of said lands was agreed upon and made between the heirs retaining an interest in the same, whereby Elizabeth Winn got a certain designated part, F. J. Winn got a certain other designated part, and James J. and Harriet E. Blackshear got the remaining part, and that although said lands were so divided, and possession taken ac cordingly, no deeds were exchanged or given between the parties; that John H. Sloan and James J. Black-shear had since died, and owing to the death of Black-shear, who acquired a third interest in said lands under the said deed from James N. Winn, and one-fifth interest therein under the then laws of Georgia., by right of his marriage with Harriet E., no titles could pass for his interest without an order of court; that all the other property of the said Neely estate had been duly and satisfactorily divided between the heirs [622]*622at law, and Blackshear left three children living who, with their mother, were the heirs of his estate. What the other property of the Neely estate consisted of, or how it was divided, other than above stated, is not set out in the petition.

It is further alleged that on the 10th day of June, 1859, Thomas B. Winn died leaving a will, a copy of which is attached to the petition, and at the time of his death was seized and possessed of certain described lands situated in Leon county, Florida, (being the same lands involved in the present suit), and that James N. Winn, F. J. Winn, James J. Blackshear and Harriet E. Blackshear had sold their interest therein to Mary C. Sloan, she relinquishing her interest in all ■of the estate of Joseph S. Neely, deceased, to said parties; that F. J. Winn had made her his deed, James N. Winn had failed and refused, and that Harriet E. Blackshear, as administratrix, could not make her deed, and it was impossible to get said deed made as ■ agreed between all the parties when the contract heretofore referred to was made; that James N. Winn and Joseph S. Neely were the executors of the will of Thomas B. Winn, deceased, and the testator left certain real estate, known as the home place, situated in Thomas county, Georgia, particularly described, and a certain part of his personal property, to his widow Elizabeth Winn during her natural life, and the residue of his estate, both real and personal, together with the remainder interest in the property given to said widow for life, he gave and bequeathed to his four children, James N. Winn, F. J. Winn, Harriet E. Blackshear (formerly Harriet E. Winn) and Mary O. Sloan (formerly Mary C. Winn); that all the property except that given to the said widow for life was duly ;and satisfactorily divided between the said children, [623]*623but how the division was made is not further stated; that in December, 1870, James N. Winn gave his deed to James J. Blaekshear, trustee for his said wife, and F. J. Winn and his wife Sarah, by which the grantor sold to said parties all his interest in and to the said home place, in which he had an undivided one-fourth interest in remainder under the will of Thomas B. Winn, deceased, and also all his interest in certain described lands situated in Thomas county, Georgia, :and which Elizabeth Winn obtained as a distributive share from the Neely estate, and in which James N. had a one-fourth interest as a prospective heir of his said mother; that about the same time James J. Black-shear and wife, John H. Sloan and wife and F. J. Winn and wife gave deed to James N. Winn to their interests to certain designated portions of the said home place; that afterwards John H. Sloan and James •J. Blaekshear died, and still later Elizabeth Winn died, and after the death of the latter, the property known as the Winn home place, and the lots drawn by Elizabeth Winn from the Neely estate, were divided by the parties in interest and reduced to possession, but on account of the deaths of Blaekshear and Sloan who, under the said deed from James N. Winn, were made trustees for their respective wives, the latter could not make titles of the entire interests in said lands to each other and to F. J. Winn without the consent of court. The parts that the respective parties ;got in the division of the Winn home place and the lots obtained by Elizabeth Winn from the Neely estate are particularly described in the petition. The prayer of the petition asks that a guardian ad litem be appointed for the minor heirs of James J. Blaekshear, ■deceased, and that the deed to James J. Blaekshear for himself and as guardian for F. J. Winn and Mary [624]*624C. Winn be corrected in the particulars mentioned;that Mary C. Sloan be authorized and required to give deed to Harriet E. Blaekshear in her own right and as administratrix of the estate of James J. Blaekshear, deceased, to the lands allotted to him in the division of the Keely estate in right of his wife and in his own right under the said deed from James H. Winn, and to the lands allotted to Harriet E.

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Bluebook (online)
34 Fla. 610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winn-v-strickland-fla-1894.