Zellner v. Samuelson

220 S.W. 587, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 377
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 11, 1920
DocketNo. 2211.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 S.W. 587 (Zellner v. Samuelson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zellner v. Samuelson, 220 S.W. 587, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 377 (Tex. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

WILLSON, C. j.

(after stating the facts as above). The only lands belonging to the community estate of the first marriage at the date of the death of the mother of Mrs. Har7 rison, Mrs. Butler, and Clifford Goodwyne, were the two tracts conveyed to A. A. Good-wyne by J. U. IPraley. A. A. Goodwyne conveyed one of the tracts to Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Butler, and by a deed of gift conveyed a part of the other tract (identified as the “home tract”) to his second wife. The part left unconveyed of one of the tracts is identified in the record as “lot 8A.” It appears, from a finding which the parties treat as warranted by testimony, that Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Butler each had received the interest she was entitled to in said lands as an heir of her mother, and from another finding that the'interest they still respectively owned was V36 each as an heir of their brother Clifford in said lot 8A and the part of the tract given by A. A. Goodwyne to his second wife, referred to above as the “home tract.” The court found that the minor G. B. Goodwyne owned the remaining s4/36 interest in the “home tract,” further found that the tract was not capable of partition between the owners except by a sale thereof, and in the judgment he rendered directed that same be sold for the purpose of effecting a partition thereof. Appellant insists that the court should have satisfied the interest of Mrs. Harrison an'd Mrs. Butler in said “home tract” out of lot 8A, and that the judgment is erroneous in so far as it awarded them an interest in the “home tract” and directed a sale of that tract. As a support for his contention, appellant relies on cases like Furrh v. Winston, 66 Tex. 521, 1 S. W. 527, where the Supreme Court said:

“While a eotenant has no power to divest the title of his co-owners by selling a specific part of the common property, yet it is well established that a court of equity will protect'such a purchaser, if this can be done without injury to the other owners, by setting apart to the vendee of the cotenant the particular tract bought.”

We have been referred to and have found no case where the rule stated has been applied where the grantee was not a purchaser from but was a donee of the eotenant. While no reason now occurs to us why it should not be applied to a donee in a case in other respects within it, we will not determine whether it should or not, for it does not appear that this case is in other respects within the rule, in that it does not appear that it can be applied in favor of the donee’s heirs without injury to others concerned. The court found that the estate of A. A. Goodwyne, deceased, consisted of a 66/72 interest in lot 8A and was indebted in sums exceeding the value of his said interest in said lot. So it is plain the effect of requiring the interest of Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Butler m the “home-place” to be satisfied out of lot 8A would be to injure either Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Butler or the creditors of A. A. Goodwyne, deceased, for if that interest was so satisfied the value of the property to which the creditors have to look for payment of their claims would be decreased to that extent ; and if, because the claim of the creditors on that lot was entitled to priority, said interest was not satisfied, Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Butler would suffer the loss of the value thereof. The tract of land identified in the *590 record as the “Goldberg tract” was conveyed to Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne by J. I. Garter by a deed dated April 17, 1906. The consideration for the conveyance, it appeared, was $50 in cash and $1,950 in the 39 promissory notes for $50 each made by said Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne and her husband, A. A. Goodwyne, payable one each month after the date of said deed. In the deed was a recital that the sale and conveyance was to “Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne (to her separate estate) and to her heirs.” The land identified in the record as the “Kottle lots” was conveyed to said Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne by said J. I. Carter by a deed dated August 1, 1907. The consideration for the conveyance, it appeared, was $100 in cash and $1,150 in the 46 promissory notes for $25 each made by said Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne and her husband, A. A. Goodwyne, payable one each month after the date of the deed. In the deed was a recital that the sale was made to said “Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne for her separate use and benefit.” The trial court found the fact to be that the entire consideration for each of the conveyances to Mhrs. Eddie Goodwyne was paid by her husband, said A. A. Goodwyne, with money belonging to the community estate between them, and concluded that the two tracts therefore belonged to said community estate. Both the finding and the conclusion based on it are attacked as erroneous.

We think the finding was warranted by testimony before the court, but do not agree that the fact alone that the land was so paid for warranted the conclusion that it was community property and not a part of Mrs. Eddie Goodwyne’s separate estate. Bank v. Hall, 30 S. W. 73; Markum v. Markum, 210 S. W. 835; Kahn v. Kahn, 94 Tex 114, 58 S. W. 825; McCutchen v. Purinton, 84 Tex 604, 19 S. W. 710; McClintic v. Midland Grocery Co., 106 Tex 32, 154 S. W. 1157. The instant case, so far as the question now being considered is concerned, is not materially different in its facts from the case first cited above. There, as here, the conveyance was to the wife, /the consideration being promissory notes made by her and her husband, which were paid with funds belonging to the community estate. There, as here, the deed contained a recital that the wife was to have and hold the land as her separate property. There, as here, it was contended that the land was community because it was purchased on a credit and paid for with funds belonging to the community estate between the grantee and her husband. The contention was overruled in an opinion so applicable to the instant case that we quote the greater part of it:

“Where lands,” said Judge Einley, speaking for the Court of Civil Appeals, “acquired by onerous title during the existence of the marital relation, are conveyed by deed to the wife, in the absence of recitals in the deed to the contrary, it will be presumed that the property was purchased with community funds, and that it was intended to be held as community property. This presumption may be overcome by proof that the property was purchased with the separate estate of the wife, or that it was the intention of the husband in causing the deed to be made to her to make it her separate property. [Citing authorities.] When the deed to the wife expresses th.e intention that the property is designed to be her separate property, although the property be paid for out of community funds, as between the wife and the husband, or those claiming under him, with notice, it is her separate estate. In McCutchen v. Purington, 84 Tex. 604 [19 S. W. 710], Henry, J., speaking for the court says: ‘When the husband is solvent, he can convert community property into the separate property of the wife. If he causes a deed for property paid for with community funds to be made to the wife for her separate use, and causes the deed to so recite, it would vest the title in the wife as her separate estate. The husband has the management of both the community property and the separate estate of his wife; and when a deed containing recitals like the one now under consideration is found to have been made during the existence of the marriage, and no evidence is offered to explain it, the presumption must be indulged that it was made with the knowledge and consent of the husband, and for the purpose of making the property the separate estate of the wife.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Watson v. Morgan
91 S.W.2d 1133 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
Goldberg v. Zellner
235 S.W. 870 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 S.W. 587, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zellner-v-samuelson-texapp-1920.