Clement v. First Nat. Bank

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: Levy
• Citation: Clement v. First Nat. Bank, 245 S.W. 719 (Tex. App. 1922)
• Decision Date: 20 November 1922
• Docket Number: (No. 2630.)
• Parties: CLEMENT v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF PARIS.

Page 719

245 S.W. 719

CLEMENT v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF PARIS.

(No. 2630.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.

November 20, 1922.

Rehearing Denied November 30, 1922.

Appeal from District Court, Lamar County; Newman Phillips, Judge.

Suit by Mrs. Mae Newton Clement against the First National Bank of Paris, Tex. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

The appellant filed the suit asking for a writ of injunction restraining the sale under execution of certain property, upon the grounds that a portion of the property was her separate property and the other portion was homestead and exempt from sale. The trial court made the following finding of fact:

"First. W. R. Clement owned the property in controversy at the time of his marriage to the plaintiff, May N. Clement, in 1909. In 1911 he and his wife moved upon the property and the entire property took the homestead character.

"Second. At the time the property was designated as a homestead in 1911 it was (and is now) within the business district of the city of Paris, and was of the value of $175 per front foot, or the total value of $8,400, exclusive of the improvements, the cost of the improvements being $6,000. The property had a frontage on Main street of 48 feet.

"Third. On May 25, 1917, W. R. Clement conveyed as a gift to his wife a portion off the south side of the property 27 feet wide by 108 feet deep, leaving in his own name the balance of the property 21 feet wide by 75 feet deep. Clement and his wife continued the use of the whole property as their homestead until his death in 1919, and his wife continued after his death until the present time to occupy it as her homestead. The present value of the land, exclusive of improvements, is $175 per front foot, and the present improvements of the value of $9,000.

"Fourth. At the time Clement conveyed the portion to his wife he was indebted to the First National Bank of Paris in approximately the sum of $300. He owned no property other than this homestead and owed no debt other than the one to the said bank. Before his death he devised by will the entire property to his wife (the plaintiff), and the will has been duly probated.

"Fifth. On February 2, 1921, the bank reduced to judgment in the county court of Lamar county its claim against Clement in the sum of $920, and subsequently had execution issued upon the judgment and levy made upon the entire property referred to above. A portion of the claim of the bank was the money owing to it by Clement referred to above, and the balance was for other moneys loaned to Clement by the bank after the date of the conveyance to his wife by Clement referred to above.

"Sixth. After the conveyance in 1917 by Clement to his wife they used said property as their homestead together with the portion of the property retained by Clement. The indebtedness upon which the judgment was rendered was a community debt or indebtedness of Clement and his wife.

"Under...