MARGARET F. SNOW, ET AL.,
v.
CASSIE ETHEL ARNOLD

Fla. | 1938-04-14
Ellis, C.' J., and Whitfield, Terrell, Brown, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur.
132 Fla. 435 Florida Supreme Court (1938) Caution
Also reported at: 181 So. 7
Cited by 12 cases

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Synopsis

This case concerns a widow's claim for reimbursement for mortgage payments and taxes made by her deceased husband, the life tenant, on property that was ultimately determined to belong to the remaindermen. The court affirmed the lower court's decree ordering the remaindermen to pay the widow for these expenses.


Holding

Yes, the remaindermen must reimburse the widow of the life tenant for the mortgage payments and taxes paid by the life tenant on the property, as these payments benefited the remaindermen's fee simple interest.


Key Quotes

“This appeal is from a final decree requiring the remaindermen in fee to pay to the widow of the life tenant amounts for a mortgage lien and for taxes on the property which the court finds were paid by the life tenant, but should have been paid by the remaindermen who are the heirs of the testatrix.”

This quote summarizes the core issue and the lower court's finding that the remaindermen should compensate the widow for payments made by the life tenant.

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Facts & Procedural History

The life tenant, Campbell Elmore Arnold, paid $6,666.00 towards a mortgage on the property and also paid taxes. After his death, his widow claimed he …

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Opinion of the Court
Per Curiam.

Per Curiam.

This appeal is from a final decree requiring the remaindermen in fee to pay to the widow of the life tenant amounts for a mortgage lien and for taxes on the property which the court finds were paid by the life tenant, but should have been paid by the remaindermen *436who are the heirs of the testatrix. An accounting is sought with lien by subrogation of plaintiff to the right of the paid mortgage and appropriate decree against the several remaindermen.

In this suit begun March 26, 1934, the decree contains findings: that on February 7, 1918, Samintha Campbell owned the fee simple title to the described property known as “Tibbett’s Corner” in the City of Tampa, Florida; that on such date she mortgaged the property for $7,500.00, to be paid at the rate of $108.75 per month for ninety-six months; that said Samintha Campbell died June 25, 1919, and by her will, probated June 28, 1919, devised to Campbell Elmore Arnold, her grandson, a life estate in said property; that he immediately took possession of the property and retained possession until his death, May 11, 1928; that he paid the mortgage notes to the total amount of $6,666.00; that the widow of the life tenant, his sole heir at law, should be credited with stated amounts paid by the life tenant for taxes for the part of the year 1919 before the life tenant took possession of the property and should be debited for the part of year 1928 before the death of the life tenant which had been paid by the remaindermen, the heirs of the testatrix.

The decree in effect also finds that on June 20, 1928, the heirs at law of Samintha Campbell claiming as remainder-men, brought suit to secure an adjudication of their interests in the property, and to recover the property from the widow of the life tenant, such widow claiming the fee simple estate as the sole heir of her deceased husband, she insisting that her husband had a fee simple estate under the will of his grandmother, Samintha Campbell; that the decree of the Circuit Court affirmed by the appellate court, adjudged that such grandson of the testator had only a life estate in the property under the will and' that the fee *437simple title was in the heirs of the testatrix and not in the heirs of the life tenant, Arnold v. Wells, 100 Fla. 1470, 131 So. 400, the mandate of the Supreme Court being filed in the lower court on February 6, 1931; that the widow is entitled to receive interest on $6,666.00, the amount paid by the life tenant on the mortgage indebtedness, such interest running from February 6, 1931, when the former suit was determined, amounting to $3,333.00, and $43.20 costs of court, making a total of $10,042.20 less $116.53 adjustment of taxes paid by the remaindermen as heirs of the testatrix, for the part of the year 1928 before the death of the life tenant, leaving $9,925.67 due the widow plaintiff below.

The remaindermen successfully litigated their claim to the fee simple title to the property after the death of the life tenant; but it cannot be said the widow of the life tenant had no reasonable expectation of succeeding in her claim that her husband had the fee simple title by virtue of the language of the devise to him and of her right as his sole heir. The issue was adjudicated by this Court in favor of the remaindermen, and the widow of the life tenant surrendered the possession of the property to the remainder-men under the mandate of this Court issued in Arnold v. Wells, 100 Fla. 1470, 131 So. 400.

Apparently the remaindermen did not in that suit assert any claim for damages or losses resulting from the failure of the widow of the life tenant to surrender the property upon the death of the life tenant; and the widow of the life tenant asserted no claim for the payments made by the life tenant on the mortgage lien on the property or for taxes he paid on the property from January 1 to the date in 1919 when he took possession as life tenant. The issue was the ownership of the fee simple title to the land under the will, after the death of the life tenant. There was no *438waiver, estoppel, election or laches to bar the widow when she later, March 26, 1934, sought an adjudication of her claim for an adjustment of the mortgage and tax payments made by the life tenant on the property which this Court held to belong to the remaindermen in fee after the death of the life tenant.

Set-off claims presented by the remaindermen, in this suit by the widow to recover mortgage and tax payments made by the life tenant on the property, are not directly connected with the rights adjudicated in the former suit of the remaindermen against the widow of the life tenant; and being of a more remote or collateral nature, the findings of the Chancellor on the merits, in disallowing such asserted set-off claims, have substantial support in the evidence and should not be disturbed.

Affirmed.

Ellis, C.' J., and Whitfield, Terrell, Brown, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Furlong v. Leybourne, 138 So. 2d 352 (Fla. 3d DCA 1962)
    …2 P. 2d 732; Anno: 35 A.L.R.2d 1027. Appellee, in support of the lower court’s finding that the children as owners of the remainder interest are responsible for that part of the payments on the note which constitute principal, cites Snow v. Arnold, 132 Fla. 435, 181 So. 7, Williams v. Williams, Fla.App. 1960, 120 So. 2d 202, and Wagner v. Mosely, Fla.App.1958, 104 So. 2d 86, as controlling. While we are in accord with the principles expounded in these cases, we find that they do not govern the instant situ…
  • Rosella Wagner v. Moseley, 104 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958)
    …, 198 N.W. 245. Such transactions under proper circumstances entitle the life tenant to contribution from a remainderman for his proportionate share of the amount paid by such life tenant. 31 C.J.S. Estates § 35, pp. 44-45, and Snow v. Arnold, 1938, 132 Fla. 435, 181 So. 7. The law seems to be firmly entrenched that generally the statute of limitations, laches, or estoppel will not run against a remainderman prior to the termination of the life tenancy where the life tenant’s conduct is consistent with his…
  • Cora Williams v. Williams, 120 So. 2d 202 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960)
    …ssed in his will an intention to that effect. 33 Am.Jur., Life Estates, Remainders, etc., § 461; 1 Redfearn, Wills .& Administration of Estates in Florida, ■■§ 177 (3d Ed. 1957); 1 Adkins, Florida Real Estate Law, § 17.10 (1959). See Snow v. Arnold, 132 Fla. 435, 181 So. 7; Wagner v. Moseley, Fla.App.1958, 104 So. 2d 86. It is well established that where a life tenant pays off a mortgage outstanding against the estate, he is entitled to reimbursement from the remaindermen. Annotation 87 A.L.R. 220. The app…

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