Fielding v. Ketler
Fielding v. Ketler
Opinion of the Court
Numerous assignments of error are made by appellants on this appeal, but the only question argued is whether or not the debt is a community debt and should stand as a lien against the community property of appellants. The trial court so found and concluded, and rendered judgment accordingly.
Katherine Fielding is the mother of appellant Martha Ketler. Appellants had been married some thirty-one or thirty-two years prior to the original transaction involved in this
The legal presumption is, of course, that the money being borrowed, it became a community liability. Our statutes define separate property as that acquired by either spouse, (1) before marriage, or (2) by gift, devise or inheritance, and the rents, issues and profits of property so acquired. Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 5915, 5916 (P. C. 95 §§ 25, 9). Exceptions are also made in favor of the wife as to her earnings by personal labor, and as to the earnings and accumulations of herself and minor children living with her, or in her custody, while she is living separate and apart from her husband, by the provisions of Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 5920 and 5921 (P. C. 95 §§ 17, 35). The hotel was occupied by the appellants together, though the husband was away much of the time at other work he had, and the wife ran the hotel.
In this case, appellants in reality sought to establish that the money was acquired by the wife as a gift from the mother, so as to come under the provisions of § 5916, supra, and failed. It was established as a loan to the wife, during the existence of the status and relations of the community. In such case, it is a community obligation. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 5917 (P. C. 95 § 27) ; Yesler v. Hochstettler, 4 Wash. 349, 30 Pac. 398; Abbott v. Wetherby, 6 Wash. 507, 33 Pac. 1070, 36 Am. St. 176; Main v. Scholl, 20 Wash. 201, 54 Pac. 1125; Heintz v. Brown, 46 Wash. 387, 90 Pac. 211, 123 Am. St. 937; Graves v. Graves, 48 Wash. 664, 94 Pac. 481.
Affirmed.
Morris, C. J., Mount, Chadwick, and Parker, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Katherine Fielding v. H. L. Ketler
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Husband and Wife — Community Property — Loan to Wipe. The loan of money to a wife to purchase a hotel business, while living with her husband, although he was away much of the time and she ran the hotel, constitutes a community debt.