Pedersen v. Nielsen

• Citation: 250 N.W. 400,212 Wis. 608
• Parties: PEDERSEN v. NIELSEN.
• Decision Date: 10 October 1933
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wisconsin

212 Wis. 608

250 N.W. 400

PEDERSEN

v.NIELSEN.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Oct. 10, 1933.

Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Clark County; Emery W. Crosby, Circuit Judge. Reversed.

This action was instituted by petition filed in the circuit court for Clark county on the 18th day of October, 1932, under the provisions of section 272.20 (2), praying that the premises therein described be declared to be a homestead of the petitioner, Glyde B. Nielsen, and exempt from the lien of a judgment in favor of Carl C. Pedersen, administrator of the estate of Paul A. Paulsen, deceased. From a judgment declaring the premises to be petitioner's homestead and exempt from said judgment, entered on the 24th day of February, 1933, Carl C. Pedersen, as such administrator, appeals.Morris E. Yager, of Frederic, for appellant.

V. W. Nehs, of Neillsville, for respondent.

OWEN, Justice.

The question raised upon this appeal is whether the premises described in the petition constitute the homestead of the petitioner, Glyde B. Nielsen, and are, therefore, exempt from the judgment of the appellant. Briefly stated, the facts found by the court are: That the petitioner is the widow of Dr. C. S. Nielsen, who died a resident of Withee, in Clark county, on the 8th day of December, 1923, leaving the property described in the petition, title to which is now in the petitioner. The petitioner was left in the most impecunious circumstances, with one son to support.

In September, 1924, Mrs. Nielsen entered the University of Wisconsin, and spent one year taking a course to qualify as a librarian. In July, 1925, Mrs. Nielsen secured a position in the public library of Eau Claire at an annual salary of $1,440. She remained in this position for three years, receiving a salary of $1,600 during her last year. For the first two years after her husband's death her son remained with his uncle at Withee and attended high school. During the last two years of her service at the Eau Claire library she and her son rented rooms for light housekeeping, her son attending the Eau Claire Normal School. At the expiration of this period, her son being desirous of obtaining an engineering course, which could be had only at some university, Mrs. Nielsen made application for a position as librarian at Madison and at Minneapolis. Her application at Minneapolis was accepted.

On July 1, 1928, Mrs. Nielsen moved to Minneapolis and entered upon her position as librarian at the Minneapolis library at a salary of $1,600. She still holds the position at the same salary. Her son accompanied her to Minneapolis and entered the University of Minnesota, from which he has since graduated,and since September, 1931, he has been in the employ of the Standard Foods Company. Upon arriving at Minneapolis, Mrs. Nielsen rented a flat and moved nearly all of her household furniture from Withee, where it had been stored in a building on the premises sought to be declared her homestead. Since moving to Minneapolis, she has attended the summer sessions of the University of Minnesota, has taken correspondence work at the University of Wisconsin, and is now taking work in the extension division of the University of Minnesota with a view of securing a degree as a librarian, so that, after receiving such a degree, she will be qualified for a better position in library work. It is her present intention to continue to remain in Minneapolis at her present work as a librarian, helping and supporting her son and enabling him to attend the University of Minnesota so that he may secure both a master's and a doctor's degree, and then to still remain there until he has established himself so he can earn a livelihood, and to still further continue in her library work until she has earned enough money to pay her debts, amounting to some $4,500, and to also lay aside a competency for old age. After this, according to the finding of the court, it has been her aim and intention to return and spend the rest of her life in her homestead at Withee. During her stay in Minneapolis she has exercised the right of suffrage and voted at least one election.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the circuit court found that she is a resident...