Robinson v. McGuire
Robinson v. McGuire
Opinion of the Court
Appellant brought this suit against appellees, Mrs. M. Y. J. McGuire and her husband, C. H. McGuire, to recover about 62 acres of land situated in Travis county; the petition .being in the usual form of trespass to try title. The defendants’ answer included a general demurrer, general denial, and plea of homestead. There was a jury trial, which resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the defendants, and the plaintiff has appealed.
The proof shows that the property in question was the homestead and community property of W. B. Barr and appellee Mrs. McGuire, on December 31, 1902, at which time W. B. Barr died. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Barr bought a house and lot in the city of Austin, which she moved to and occupied with her children for several years, when she sold it and bought another house and lot in the same city, which she subsequently sold; and thereafter she and her present husband, C. H. McGuire, went to Denver, Colo., where they purchased a house and lot which they occupied as a home for *416 about three years. After Mrs. McGuire moved to Austin she married a man by the name of Westfall, but was subsequently divorced from him and thereafter married her present husband, Mr. McGuire. When Mr. Barr died he and his wife had three living children; and in 1905, in a partition suit, a depree was rendered vesting title to the land in controversy in Richard Everett Barr, subject to the homestead right of his mother, who is now Mrs. McGuire, and one of the appellees in this case. Thereafter, Richard Everett Barr was adjudged a bankrupt, and A. Robinson, the appellant in this case, was appointed trustee of the bankrupt estate; and, as heretofore stated, he instituted this suit to recover the property from Mrs. McGuire and her husband, his contention being that the homestead right which was vested in Mrs. McGuire by the partition decree referred to had been abandoned, and therefore she was not entitled to the possession and use of the premises.
The trial court submitted the case to the jury upon two special issues, which were as follows:
“Question No. 1. Has the defendant, Mrs. M. Y. J. McGuire, at any time since the 19th day of October, 1905 (the date of the partition decree above referred to), had or formed an intention not to return to the property known as the home place at Sprinkle, for the purpose of using and occupying same as her home?”
“Question No. 2. At the time of the removal of the defendant to the state of Colorado, or at any time thereafter, has there been an intention on the part of the defendant Mrs. McGuire to reside permanently in Colorado?”
The jury answered both of those questions in the negative; and thereupon judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants.
“The second assignment is that ‘the court erred in the third paragraph of his charge, in this: He tells the jury, “If defendants, W. S. Campbell and wife, Adelia, when they moved away from said property, did not intend not to return to said property, and use it as a homestead, or if they did intend and still intend to return and so use said property and occupy it as a homestead, and that neither of them has ever acquired any other homestead since they went away from the property in controversy, then, in such case, such property was not subject to forced sale, and you will find for defendant.” ’ There was evidence which made such a charge proper, and we understand the law to be as therein stated. There was no controversy as to the fact that the property was at one time the homestead of Campbell and his family, but he and family had been absent from it for some time, as claimed, and the great weight of the evidence tended to show, because it was necessary for him to remain in the state of Missouri under treatment by a specialist for a dangerous disease, but with intent at all times to return to it as soon as his condition would permit. So being the evidence, the court, in connection with other proper and relevant charges, instructed the jury that, ‘in order for the plaintiff to recover on the grounds of abandonment, you must be satisfied by preponderance of evidence that W. S. Campbell, at the time of leaving the state, did so with the intent to abandon his said homestead, or that since leaving he determined to abandon the same.’ Appellant claimed that Campbell had changed his domicile from Texas, where it is shown once to have been, to the state of Missouri, and the great burden of his brief is to establish the proposition that Campbell had changed his domicile and become a citizen or resident of the state of Missouri, without intent to return to his home in Texas. If he had established that proposition to the satisfaction of the jury, under the charge of the court, the verdict would have been in his favor on the question of abandonment. One having acquired domicile does not lose it without removal from it with intent not to return, and the same is true as to abandonment of a homestead once acquired. The burden of proof in either case rests upon the person asserting the affirmative of the proposition. One may wrongfully exercise such powers or privileges as can be exercised lawfully only by an actual citizen of the state in which they are exercised, and this will be evidence of the fact that he is a citizen of the state in which he assumes to exercise rights which pertain only to citizenship, but not conclusive evidence of that fact.”
In addition to the case quoted from, the following are cited in support of our decision: Lumpkin v. Nicholson, 10 Tex. Civ. App. 108, 30 S. W. 568; Aultman & Co. v. Allen, 12 Tex. Civ. App. 227, 33 S. W. 679; Farmer v. Hale, 14 Tex. Civ. App. 73, 37 S. W. 164; Gaar, Scott & Co. v. Burge, 49 Tex. Civ. App. 599, 110 S. W. 182. See, also, authorities collated in Harris’ Constitution of Texas, beginning on page 853, and similar collation by Judge Speer in the last edition of his excellent treatise on Marital Rights in Texas, on pages 536 and 537. In the last case cited, the Galveston Court of Civil Appeals reviews Trawick v. Harris, 8 Tex. 315, Jordan v. Godman, 19 Tex. 273, and Smith v. Uzzell, 56 Tex. 316, and shows that certain expressions of the court in those cases, concerning the effect of removal to another state, do not establish the law that in this state such removal ipso facto destroys pre-exist-ing homestead rights. In Aultman & Co. v. Allen and Farmer v. Hale, supra, it is held that the ownership and use of another home does not necessarily constitute abandonment of a pre-existing homestead right.
The other questions presented in appellant’s brief have been considered, and are decided against him.
It will be noted that this case does not involve any controversy between creditors of one claiming a homestead and such claimant. In the instant case the controversy is between the representative of the creditors of Richard Everett Barr and his mother, *418 whose title to the property is fixed by a decree of court, which vests the fee-simple title in the son, subject to the homestead right of the mother. Of course, the creditors of Richard Everett Barr can assert no claim to the property, as against his mother, which could not be asserted by him; and, whether or not that distinguishes this from the class of cases in which the question of abandonment of homestead rights has been considered, we have not undertaken to and do not decide.
No error has been shown, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
<g=For other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ROBINSON v. McGUIRE Et Al.
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published