DeCottes v. Clarkson
DeCottes v. Clarkson
Opinion of the Court
(after statiúg the facts.)
Counsel for appellants say in their brief filed in this •case that the “bill of complaint through inadvertance prayed for a partition, of the whole lot, but the western portion is the only part of the lot sought to be subjected to the partition, and it was so> understood at the final hearing in the court below.” In view of this statement our decision will be confined to> the western, eighty-two and one-half feet of lot five (5) in block thirty-three (33)- old numbering, of the city of Jacksonville or lot five (5) in block eighty-one (81), new numbering.
Counsel for appellees questions here the jurisdiction of the lower court, and contends that such an adverse possession of title as is disclosed by the joint answer can not be adjudicated by a court of chancery in a partition suit. No- objection was made to* the jurisdiction of the court by demurrer to the bill or reservation in the answer of any such objection, and the case was brought on for final hearing before the chancellor upon bill, answers and testimony submitted. On the disclosures of this record, in the absence of any such objection, in the trial ■court, we are not properly called on to go into a consideration of the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit. Rivas v. Summers, 33 Fla. 539, 15 South, Rep. 319.
The facts set up in the joint answer are substantially established by the testimony. Paran Moody died in 1887, leaving a wife, Mary L. Moody, and four daughters. Prior to that time Mrs. Moody had acquired the title to the lot in question and was then living with her husband and two daughters, Hattie and Rosa, in a dwelling-house situated on the western portion of the lot. The other two children, Mary A. and Estelle, had married and were living away from the home. All of the children were twenty-one years of age when- their father died. Mrs. Moody continued- to reside after the death of her husband in the same house with the two daughters, Hattie and Rosa, until she died, but Rosa was married to Walter B. Clark-son in 1891, and thereafter they paid board to Mrs. Moody and she did not support them-. Hattie P. Moody was vigorous and healthy and capable of attending to household affairs, besides assisting her mother in transacting business connected with the latter’s estate that amounted in value to some sixty thousand dollars. It is shown that Hattie P. Moody did materially assist her
Our constitution provides, Article X, section 1, that “a homestead to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres, of land, or the half of one acre within the limits of any incorporated city or town, owned by the head of a family residing in this State * * * shall be exempt from forced sale under process of any court,” and we are of opinion that under the facts of this case Mrs. Mary L. Moody was the head of a family, within the meaning' of the constitution., at the time of her death. If it be conceded that Mrs. Clarkson after her marriage was not a member of Mrs. Moody’s family, such can not be said of Hattie P. Moody. The court has carefully read the numerous cases oitefcl) in briefs -of counsel, and examined others accessible to us, but it is not deemed necessary that the court should enter upon a discussion of the cases on the subject. We must obey the constitution when in possession of its meaning’, and confining ourselves to the facts of the present case we have no doubt of the correctness of the conclusion, reached.
The provision “dependent for support” ’incorporated into' the statute construed in the case of Duval v. Hunt, 34 Fla. 85, 15 South. Rep. 876, is not employed in our constitution in connection 'with the term “head of p family,” and we do not feel authorized to establish an invariable test based solely on dependence, and especially 'legal dependance. The trae test of who> is the head of a family, within the contemplation of our homestead pro
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George A. DeCottes, Mary A. DeCottes, Edward H. Hopkins and Estelle Hopkins v. Walter B. Clarkson, Rosa Clarkson, Hattie P. Moody and Margaret C. Fairlie
- Cited By
- 34 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Where no objection is made in any manner to the jurisdiction of a court of chancery in a partition suit, and the case is regularly brought to final hearing and decree on bill, answer, and testimony, the appellate court will not consider objections as to jurisdiction raised for the first time on appeal, where the record fails to disclose an entire absence of jurisdiction over the subject-matter. 2. Who is the head of a family, within the meaning of section i,‘ Article X, of the constitution, exempting homesteads from forced sale, must be ascertained from the facts of each case; ‘ and there is no invariable test, based solely upon dependence, and especially legal dependence. 3. At the time of her husband’s death, Mrs M. was the owner of a lot of land in an incorporated city, containing less than one-half acre, upon which there was a dwelling house, and in which she resided with her husband and two unmarried daughters; there being two other married daughters living away from the family residence. The husband died in 1887, and Mrs. M., the widow, and the two unmarried daughters continued to reside in the same house until the death of Mrs. M., in 1894. One of the daughters married in 1891, and thereafter she and her husband paid board,> and were in no way supported by the mother. The other daughter was vigorous and healthy, capable of attending to household affairs, and did assist in attending to them, besides assisting her mother in connection with the latter’s estate, that amounted in value to some sixty thousand dollars, all this was done out of a sense of filial duty and affection, and there was no agreement about it, or stipulated price to be paid, but this daughter was supported and provided for by her mother as long as she lived. Held, that Mrs. M. was the head of a family at the time of her death, within the meaning of section 1, Article X, of the constitution. 4. The word “children,” in the fourth section of the tenth article of the constitution, permitting a devise of the homestead when the holder be “without children,” has reference to relationship, and there is nothing in the context to authorize a construction restricting it to minor children.