Steere v. Barnet
Steere v. Barnet
Opinion of the Court
This is an action to enjoin the sheriff of Alameda County, and the First National Bank of San Francisco, an execution creditor, from selling, under execution sale, certain real property claimed to be exempt by reason of an alleged declaration of homestead, the validity *590 of which is the only issue in the case. Plaintiff obtained a judgment and defendants have appealed.
On October 8, 1898, Jesse E. Steere, now deceased, and • Minnie A. Steere, the plaintiff, were married, and on June 24, 1908, were husband and wife. On that date, by deed designating “Jesse E. Steere and Minnie A. Steere, his wife, of the city and county of San Francisco, state of California, parties of the second part,” they acquired the real property here in question. The plaintiff did not know that she was named as one of the grantees in the deed until some time later, when in conversation with her husband he informed her that the property was in her name, as well as in Ms. A dwelling-house was erected on the property. Both the lot and the house were paid for with the earnings of the husband after marriage. The parties continued to live on the premises and there raised their family. On July 12, 1915, Jesse Steere, the husband, then residing on the premises with his family, filed a declaration of homestead. Thereafter until Ms death, which occurred on the sixteenth day of September, 1918, he so resided, and following his decease the family has continued to live on the premises. On April 7, 1920, the First National Bank of San Francisco, one of the defendants here, obtained a judgment against this plaintiff, on a promissory note, for the sum of $2,785.59, and costs of suit. Thereafter the bank caused a writ of execution to be issued and placed in the hands of the defendant Barnet, sheriff of Alameda County. He levied on the homestead and advertised it for sale. TMs action was instituted by the plaintiff to enjoin the sheriff from proceeding under the execution, and to quiet her title to the property.
Appellants rely on the presumption laid down in section 164 of the Civil Code, which, at the time of the execution of the deed to respondent and her husband, provided that whenever any property was conveyed to a married woman and her husband, the presumption arose that the married woman took the part conveyed to her as a tenant in common, unless a different intention was expressed in the instrument *591 of conveyance. Prom the fact of such a conveyance, however, only a rebuttable presumption arose that any portion of the property was the separate property of the wife. (Estate of Young, 123 Cal. 337, 346 [55 Pac. 1011] ; Fanning v. Green, 156 Cal. 279, 282 [104 Pac. 308] ; Volquards v. Myers, 23 Cal. App. 500, 504 [138 Pac. 963].) In this ease the presumption was disputed and overthrown by other evidence amply sufficient to justify the finding of the court that the property was community property when designated as a homestead. (Civ. Code, sec. 687; Fulkerson v. Stiles, 156 Cal. 703, 706 [26 L. R. A. (N. S.) 181, 105 Pac. 966] ; Fanning v. Green, supra; Hammond v. McCollough, 159 Cal. 639, 643 [115 Pac. 216].)
The judgment is affirmed.
Richards, J., and Kerrigan, J., concurred.
A petition to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on December 15, 1921.
All the Justices concurred.
Lawlor, J., was absent, and Richards, J., pro tem., was acting.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MINNIE A. STEERE, Respondent, v. FRANK BARNET, Sheriff, Etc., Et Al., Appellants
- Cited By
- 5 cases
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- Published