First Nat. Bank of Orange v. Sokolski
First Nat. Bank of Orange v. Sokolski
Opinion of the Court
The First National Bank of Orange instituted this action against Mrs. R. Sokolski, widow, to recover the amount due upon certain promissory notes for over $300, and at the same time sued out an attachment which it caused to be levied upon a certain house and lot in the town of Orange. Mrs. Sokolski resisted the attempt to-foreclose the attachment on the ground that the property levied upon constituted her homestead. Before the trial A. W. Dycus, trustee in bankruptcy of the defendant, intervened, and claimed the property as part of the estate of the said bankrupt. Upon trial, with the assistance of a jury,, the plaintiff recovered judgment for the amount due upon the notes, to be collected through the bankruptcy proceedings, but the property was adjudged to be the homestead of the defendant, and foreclosure of the lien of the *313 attachment was denied. From this part .of the judgment the plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.
This is a second appeal of this case. First National Bank of Orange v. R. Sokolski, 131 S. W. 818. Upon the former appeal it was held by this court that the evidence was sufficient to authorize the judgment of the court in favor of the homestead claim of Mrs. So-kolski, but that the pleadings were not sufficient, in this: that while the evidence was sufficient to support the conclusion that Mrs. Sokolski and her granddaughter constituted a family within the meaning of the homestead provision of the Constitution, of which she was the head, in the petition the homestead claim was based upon the existence of a family consisting of Mrs. Sokolski and her children, all grown up and married, and who were not in fact constituents of the family at the time of the levy of the attachment, and no mention was made of the existence of the grandchild as a constituent of the family. Upon the present trial the petition was amended so as to meet the proof, which was substantially the same as upon the former trial, but somewhat more favorable to the claim of appellee.
The questions involved upon this appeal relate solely to the homestead claim. It was agreed “that the only issue in this cause is whether or not at the time of the levy of the writ of attachment the premises in controversy were exempt as the homestead of Mrs. Sokolski, and was so exempt at the time of the trial.” The only question presented by the assignments of error, so far as regards the merits, is whether the said Mrs. Sokolski and her granddaughter, living with her, constituted a family, of which she was the head, within the meaning of the homestead provision of the Constitution. Our conclusions of fact will be confined to such as are material to this issue.
Under the first, third, fifth, sixth, eighth, and sixteenth assignments of error, which are presented together, appellant states the *314 following proposition: “Under the facts of this case as developed by the testimony, the property in controversy was not exempt to appellee as the head of a family consisting of herself and her minor grandchild, Henry Greenwall.” The testimony on the former trial was substantially the same as upon the trial from which this appeal is prosecuted, except that upon the present trial the straitened circumstances of the grandchild’s parents, and their inability properly to support, care for, and educate her, are more fully shown. We held upon the former appeal that the facts supported Mrs. Sokol-ski’s contention that the property was her homestead and not subject to the attachment lien. First National Bank of Orange v. Sokolski, 131 S. W. 818. It is settled by all the authorities that, in order to constitute a family within the meaning of the homestead law, it is not necessary that there be a legal obligation on the part of the person claiming to be the head of such family to support, or furnish a home for, the other members. It is enough that there be a moral obligation to do so. Roco v. Green, 50 Tex. 483; Fant v. Gist, 36 S. C. 576, 15 S. E. 721; Blackwell v. Broughton, 56 Ga. 390. This is not disputed by appellant, but it is insisted that this moral obligation does not arise unless there is a condition of dependence of the member or members constituting the family upon the head for such support, and that this condition does not exist in the present case, for the reason that the parents of the grandchild, who are under the legal obligation to support her, are shown to be able to do so. We cannot agree that the moral obligation can be thus restricted, even if appellant’s contention be correct as to the ability of the parents of this child to support and care for her. In view, however, of the evidence as to their straitened circumstances which makes it clear that they are not financially able properly to care for this child and to raise and educate her, in addi-, tion to the burden of their own support and that of *the other two children, and the fact, that the child has, from her birth, been taught to look to her grandmother, not only for the material things which are necessary for her physical existence, but for the affection and the nurturing care so necessary to her proper upbringing, we do not see how a doubt can arise that the moral obligation rests upon appellee to continue to support and care for this child so long as she is able, and the child is dependent. It would be the harshest cruelty on her part now, after having for all these years fostered and encouraged in the mind of this young child this feeling of dependence, to say nothing of the feeling of affection, to abandon her even to her parents. To say this is to say that she would violate the most sacred moral obligation if she were to do so. This is all that is necessary to the existence of the relation which constitutes a family for whose benefit the homestead is protected under the provisions of the Constitution and laws. Clark v. Goins, 23 S. W. 703; Wolfe v. Buckley, 52 Tex. 649; Bank v. Cruger, 31 Tex. Civ. App. 17, 71 S. W. 784; Adams v. Clark, 48 Fla. 205, 37 South. 734; Cross v. Benson, 68 Kan. 495, 75 Pac. 558, 64 L. R. A. 560. We cannot share the apprehension of appellant that such a rule would allow a dependent child to be divided up so as to afford a pretext for the homestead claim of several relatives, each of whom might for this purpose be willing to assume this moral obligation for the support of the child. It would not be practically possible for a dependent child to be so used. The danger is, we think, entirely imaginary. We conclude that the proposition stated by appellant is not tenable, and the assignments referred to must be overruled.
There is no merit in the second assignment of error. What was alleged in the petition with regard to the purchase of the property and the former use of it as a homestead by appellee and her minor children before they ceased to be constituent members of the family within the meaning of the homestead laws was merely by way of inducement. The allegations were not improper as they served to rebut any imputation of fraud on the part of appellee by showing that, at the time she took this grandchild to support as a member of her family, there was no necessity for her to do so in order to protect the property as her homestead. In the preliminary statement of the law in the charge, the court stated that there were exempt to each head of a family a residence homestead and a business homestead. The homestead in the present case was claimed as a residence homestead. No further reference in the charge was made to business homestead. By the seventh assignment of error appellant complains of this reference in the charge to business homestead as prejudicial error. There is no merit in the complaint and the assignment is overruled.
We find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
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- First Nat. Bank of Orange v. Sokolski [Fn&8224]
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