Anderson v. Baughman
Anderson v. Baughman
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This action was instituted by sup-
plemental proceedings to subject lands in the possession of the widow and children of Andrew J. Baughman, deceased, which had been assigned to him as a homestead, to the payment of a judgment against him, upon the ground that said homestead had been abandoned as such by the widow and children of the deceased judgment debtor, and was, therefore, no longer exempt from sale under the judgment.
The Circuit Court, special Judge J. E. McDonald, presiding, overruled the defenses interposed, statute of limitations, presumption of payment, right of homestead exemption still existing, held that the homestead had been abandoned as such and decreed for sale of the land and application of proceeds to the debts of the judgment debtor. The appeal raises three questions.
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“It further appears in his decree that the parcel of land ordered to be sold contained 150 acres, more or less. The master sold the said parcel of land in pursuance of Judge Norton’s decree, and after payment of all costs and expenses,, applied the balance, amounting to $458.20, to the payment of the above mentioned judgment in favor of N.D. Anderson, now deceased. Subsequently to' the filing of Judge Norton’s decree, N. D. Anderson departed this life intestate, and his son, N. M. Anderson, was appointed administrator of his estate. On the 12th February, 1902, the said administrator of N. D. Anderson, deceased, filed a supplemental complaint in the original action, commenced on the 16th day of August, 1893, on behalf of himself and the other creditors of A. J. Baughman, deceased.”
It further appears in the case: “That homestead in said lands was allotted the judgment debtor, A. J. Baughman, in the same year of the rendition of the judgment of N. D. Anderson v. A. J. Baughman, as set out in the complaint and that A. J. Baughman lived upon the lands continuously up to his death, which occurred in 1892; and his widow, F. M. A. Baughman, lived upon the same continuously up to two years ago, when she and her children left the same and rented it out to a tenant.”
The fact that A. J. Baughman and his wife, F. M. A. Baughman, were in posession of the land for more than ten years after the homestead was allotted to them, cannot *42 avail appellants, because with respect to such possession, if any right of action accrued to- plaintiff at all, it was not until the homestead was abandoned, which did not occur until about two' years before the commencement of this action. Section 111 of the Code of Civil Procedure permits an action upon a judgment or decree of any Court within twenty years. The original judgment having been entered in 1874, the action begun thereon on the 16th day of August, 1893, was within twenty years. The decree of Judge Norton, rendered on the 6th April, 1894, gave a new starting point for said judgment as a revival of the same. The plea of the statute of limitations was properly'overruled.
The Circuit Court having held that defendants have abandoned the homestead which had previously been assigned to Andrew J. Baughman, and that defendants cannot now claim the land as exempt from the payment of his debts, and there being no exception thereto, it is obvious that this Court cannot consider whether the Circuit Court committed error in these particulars.
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I cannot concur in the opinion of Mr. Justice Jones, for the reason that I do not think his views upon the question of homestead can be reconciled with the decision in the case of Sloan v. Hunter, 65 S. C., 235, 43 S. E., 78, the latest judicial utterance upon this question.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Anderson v. Baughman.
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- Syllabus
- 1. Answer — Demurrer—Administrator.—Defect of Parties should be raised by answer or demurrer, and if not, is deemed waived. An administrator having administered all the personal estate of ,his intestate, is administrator de bonis non necessary party to proceeding to subject lands descended to payment of debts? 2. Homestead. — Statute of Limitations does not commence to run against a creditor as to homestead set off until the conditions arise under which it ceases to be a homestead. 3. Judgments — Revivad—-Presumptions.—A decree ordering sale of lands and application of proceeds to a judgment then existing, acts as a revival of the judgment, and rebuts presumption of payment from lapse of time.