Lyster v. Leighton

• Decision Date: 10 May 1904
• Parties: LYSTER et al. v. LEIGHTON et al.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

81 S.W. 1033

LYSTER et al. v. LEIGHTON et al.^*

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

May 10, 1904.

Error from District Court, Harris County; Norman G. Kittrell, Judge.

Action by Lizzie Lyster and others against Julia M. Leighton and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Jacob C. Baldwin, for plaintiffs in error. E. P. & Otis K. Hamblen and W. H. Scott, for defendants in error.

PLEASANTS, J.

This is an action of trespass to try title, brought by appellants against the appellees to recover an undivided interest in a tract of 100 acres of land in Harris county, fully described in plaintiffs' petition. The evidence shows that the 100 acres of land was the community property of Thomas C. and Julia H. Nelson, who were the parents of appellant Lizzie Lyster. After the death of Julia H. Nelson, Thomas C. Nelson sold the land to John T. Mallalieu, through whom appellees claim title. This sale was not made for the purpose of paying community debts, and appellant Lizzie Lyster, as an heir of her mother and deceased brothers and sisters, has title to an undivided 105/384 of said land, unless title thereto was acquired by appellees as purchasers for value, without notice of the title of said appellant. The facts bearing upon this issue, as disclosed by the record, are as follows: Thomas C. Nelson first acquired title to the land by conveyance from Rebecca Williams on November 3, 1865. On November 27, 1872, Thomas C. Nelson, joined by his wife, Julia H. Nelson, for a recited consideration of $510, conveyed the land to A. C. McMillan. This deed recites that the grantors therein are residents of Galveston county. On September 2, 1873, McMillan, for a recited consideration of $200, reconveyed the land by special warranty deed to Thomas C. Nelson. Julia H. Nelson died intestate March 12, 1876, and Thomas C. Nelson died in February, 1901. On March 14, 1892, Thomas C. Nelson, for a recited consideration of $1,000, conveyed the land to Mallalieu. As before stated, appellees claim title under Mallalieu. The date of their purchase is not shown, but the trial court finds that the uncontradicted evidence establishes that appellees at the time of their purchase had just come to this state, and knew nothing of Nelson's family history, and that they employed counsel to examine the title to the land, and bought same upon the assurance that the title was perfect, paying therefor the sum of $1,500, which was its full value. Appellants are not shown to have asserted any claim to the land prior to January, 1903. There is no evidence that Nelson and wife ever lived in Harris county, and the court finds that Nelson resided in Galveston county at the time he purchased from McMillan.

It is well settled that one who purchases land for value from the holder of the legal title will be protected against the claim of the beneficial owner, provided he has no notice of such claim at the time of his purchase; and this defense is available to a purchaser from the husband, after the death of the wife, of community property held in the name of the husband. Edwards v. Brown, 68 Tex 329, 4 S. W. 380, 5 S. W. 87; Pouncey v. May, 76 Tex. 565, 13 S. W. 383; Patty v. Middleton, 82 Tex. 586, 17 S. W. 909. If it be conceded, as contended by appellants,...