VIRGINIA BESS, A WIDOW, APPELLANT,
v.
BEATRICE G. ANDERSON, HELEN FRANCES MONROE AND HER HUSBAND, GEORGE B. MONROE AND E. C. ROMPH, AS TRUSTEE, APPELLEES
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This case concerns whether a husband and wife could create an estate by the entireties in their homestead real estate through a straw man conveyance. The court held that such a conveyance was an invalid alienation of homestead property under the Florida Constitution.
No, such a conveyance is not a valid alienation of homestead real estate permitted by the constitution. Therefore, it is ineffectual to create an estate by the entireties in the homestead land.
“the homestead “real estate shall not be alienable without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists.””
This quote establishes the constitutional requirement for alienating homestead property.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA husband and wife executed a conveyance of their homestead land to a trustee, who immediately reconveyed it to them as an estate by the entireties. T…
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— In partition proceedings it is in effect alleged that Thomas K. Bess was the owner of described real estate upon which he lived with his family; that Thomas K. Bess and his wife without consideration executed a conveyance of the homestead land to E. C. Romph as trustee who as trustee on the same day without consideration executed a conveyance of the same land to Thomas K. Bess and his wife “for the purpose of vesting an estate by the entireties in said lands in the said Thomas K. Bess and his wife”; that, subsequently while living with his family on the land, Thomas K. Bess devised all of his property to his wife, and died June 3, 1929, leaving a widow and two married children, who under the constitution would be beneficiaries of the homestead real estate. The court overruled demurrers to the bill for partition and the widow appealed.
The constitution provides that the homestead “real estate shall not be alienable without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists.” Where a husband and wife without consideration purport to convey the *1129husband’s homestead real estate to a third person as trustee, who as trustee, on the same day and without consideration makes a purported conveyance of the same land to the same husband and wife, for the purpose of vesting an estate by the entireties in the homestead land in the husband and wife, such purported conveyances are not such an alienation of the homestead real estate as is permitted by the constitution; and they are ineffectual to convey the homestead land or to create an estate by the entireties in the homestead real estate. See Jackson v. Jackson, 90 Fla. 563, 107 So. 255; Norton v. Baya et al., 88 Fla. 1, 102 So. 361. As when the husband died, he had living children though they were married, the homestead could not be devised to his wife. Griffith v. Griffith, 59 Fla. 512, 52 So. 609; Morgan v. Bailey et al., 90 Fla. 47, 105 So. 143; Johns v. Bowden, 68 Fla. 32, 66 So. 155.
Affirmed.
Terrell and Davis, J.J., concur.
Bíjeord, C.J., and Ellis and Brown, J.J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
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Inez Menendez and Jose Menendez v. Rodriguez, 106 Fla. 214 (Fla. 1932)…a, being the surviving owner of an estate by entireties became vested with the entire fee simple title to the property. For the reasons above stated the opinion and judgment in the case of Bess vs. Anderson, et al. filed Oct. 7th, 1931, and reported 136 So. 898, do not control this case. If the deeds from Rosa and her husband, Manuel Rodriguez, to Manuel Valle and from Manuel Valle and vjife to Manuel and Rosa Rodriguez were an unlawful manipulation of title to property which was then the contemplated hom…
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Neva S. Norman v. Cora Tanner Kannon, 133 Fla. 710 (Fla. 1938)…as tenants by the entireties, so as to give the wife, upon the death of the husband, a title to the entire homestead property by right of survivorship, without violating Sections 1, 2 and 4, Article X, of the Florida Constitution. Bess v. Anderson, 102 Fla. 1127, 136 So. 898. The Constitution expressly provides that the homestead “real estate shall not be alienable without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists * * *;” and that “the holder of a homestead” may alienate “his or her…
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Denham v. Sexton, 48 So. 2d 416 (Fla. 1950)…facts disclosing a fraudulent intention to circumvent or evade the effect of the homestead laws. See Thomas v. Craft, 55 Fla. 842, 46 So. 594; Jackson v. Jackson, 90 Fla. 563, 107 So. 255; Church v. Lee, 102 Fla. 478, 136 So. 242; Bess v. Anderson, 102 Fla. 1127, 136 So. 898. Compare Daniels v. Mercer, 105 Fla. 362, 141 So. 189; Parrish v. Robbirds, 146 Fla. 324, 200 So. 925. But except under the peculiar circumstances dealt with in the cases cited, the only restrictions we know anything about with respec…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Johns v. Bowden, 68 Fla. 32 (Fla. 1914)
- Mrs. Celete Jackson v. Jackson, 90 Fla. 563 (Fla. 1925)
- Maude DeLong Norton v. Blanche Norton Baya, 88 Fla. 1 (Fla. 1924)
- Morgan v. Mira F. Bailey, 90 Fla. 47 (Fla. 1925)
- Griffith v. Griffith, 59 Fla. 512 (Fla. 1910)