Lackey v. Harrington

• Decision Date: 18 January 1932
• Docket Number: 29720
• Citation: 162 Miss. 512,139 So. 313
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: LACKEY v. HARRINGTON et al

139 So. 313

162 Miss. 512

LACKEY v. HARRINGTON et al

No. 29720

Supreme Court of Mississippi

January 18, 1932

(Division B. Suggestion of Error Overruled Feb. 1, 1932.)

1 HOMESTEAD.

Widow redeeming her interest from tax sale, had right against the other tenants to occupy property as homestead while widow regardless of source from which cotenant's title was derived (Code 1930, section 1412).

2 HOMESTEAD.

Statute giving widow right to occupy homestead during widowhood must be liberally construed.

3. HOMESTEAD.

Widow, redeeming her interest in homestead from tax sale, acquired full rights conferred by statute, giving her right to occupy homestead during widowhood.

Division B

Suggestion Of Error Overruled February 1, 1932.

APPEAL from circuit court of Washington county HON. S. F. DAVIS, Judge.

Suit by R. P. Lackey against Emma Harrington and others. From the judgment, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Affirmed.

Wynn & Hafter, of Greenville, for appellant.

Where a decedent leaves a widow to whom, with others, his exempt property, real and personal, descends, the same shall not be subject to partition or sale for partition during her widowhood, as long as it is occupied or used by the widow, unless she consents.

Sec. 1412, Code of 1930.

Nor shall any property be exempt from sale for nonpayment of taxes or assessment.

Sec. 1775, Code of 1930.

Such conveyance shall be attested by the seal of the office of the chancery clerk and shall be recordable when acknowledged as land deeds are recorded, and such conveyance shall vest in the purchaser a perfect title with the immediate right of possession to the land sold for taxes.

Sec. 3272, Code of 1930.

One who acquires through a valid tax sale an interest in homestead property, which property is occupied by a widow as a homestead is not barred from partition, where said widow refuses to agree to a partition or to a sale for partition.

It is absolutely necessary, in order to enforce the payment of taxes, that the citizens of this state who are the prospective purchasers of lands offered for sale for the nonpayment of taxes be assured as completely as possible that they are getting good title when they make such a purchase. Anything that militates against this assurance will strike at the very roots of the source of the revenue which supports our state government.

Section 1412 does not apply to a case where the petitioner acquired his interest in the property through a tax sale, rather than by descent along with the other heirs and along with the widow who is resisting the partition.

It cannot be called unjust and unfair to the helpless to say that a widow must pay the taxes on property she has inherited, even though it be her homstead.

Percy Bell, of Greenville, for appellees.

There is nothing sacred about the right of a tax purchaser. He purchases at a tax sale and knows, or should know, that the validity of his sale depends upon a number of circumstances. When he purchases the property which is descended to a widow and which she desires to occupy as a homestead and the interest therein of one child, the widow and other children having redeemed from a tax sale, he takes his own risk and buys with a full knowledge of the law. His title to his one-fourth is not in any wise jeopardized by her occupancy, and it seems incredible that a purchaser at a tax sale should have any more right than the child whose interest he purchased.

Should the position of appellant be sustained, it would mean that section 1412 would be of no force whatever, because any adult child could permit the sale of its interest for taxes and the roof would be sold from over the head of the mother. The Legislature was endeavoring to protect the helpless in enacting section 1412, and the rights of a widow cannot be destroyed by a tax purchaser.

OPINION

Ethridge, P. J.

This cause was tried in the county court on an agreed statement of facts as follows:

"It is agreed by and between the parties to the above styled cause, that the facts pertinent to said cause are as follows to-wit: That the petitioner herein, R. P. Lackey, is a resident of Washington County, Mississippi, and over...