P. C. NELSON
v.
JAMES M. FRANKLIN
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A surviving husband cannot claim an equal share of his deceased wife's homestead property if the wife was the sole owner and could legally devise it by will.
The surviving husband sued for partition of the home, claiming it was the family homestead and descended equally to him and the wife's son. The wife h…
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P. C. Nelson married Etta Franklin in 1934. Both had children by former marriages. They lived for several years in. the home of P. C. Nelson and then moved to the home of Etta Franklin Nelson where they lived until her death in 1941. Prior to her death, she willed this home to her son James M. Franklin by her former marriage.
P. C. Nelson as the surviving husband brought this suit for partition and division of the said home. On final hearing, *695the chancellor dismissed the bill of complaint and Nelson appealed.
Nelson predicated his right to partition on the ground that his wife was the head of the family, that the home in question was the homestead of the family and could not be alienated by will or deed and that it descended to him and appellee equally from Etta Franklin Nelson.
The chancellor rejected these contentions. It is quite true that the wife may in fact be the head of the family in which event she could not by will of otherwise alienate the homestead but in this case no such showing is made. . The home in question was the separate property of Etta Franklin Nelson, was owned by her and her former husband by the entireties, and she was at liberty to will it to the son of that marriage. We do not overlook the fact that homestead exemption was claimed in the home in question and in the home of appellant where they first lived, but that did not affect the status of the properties. Appellant was the head of the family and was living in the wife’s house at the time of her death.
The judgment appealed from is therefore affirmed.
Affirmed.
BUFORD, C. J., CHAPMAN and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Abernathy v. Gruppo, 119 So. 2d 398 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960)…was head of the family. He was gainfully employed, and Mrs. Gruppo was not. Property owned by a wife does not become homestead merely because it is the home of herself and her husband who is the head of the family. Nelson v. Franklin, 152 Fla. 694, 12 So. 2d 771. Bessemer Properties, Inc., v. Gamble, 158 Fla. 38, 27 So. 2d 832, taken by the chancellor as authority to the contrary, holds that the ownership of the head of the family need not be of a legal title; the equitable title is sufficient. It does not…
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Stephens v. Campbell, 70 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 1954)…ife was the owner of the homestead. She left two children by a previous -marriage who made no attack on the will. The surviving husband claims an interest in the homestead, contending that he was a dependent of the deceased wife. Nelson v. Franklin, 152 Fla. 694, 12 So. 2d 771 is relied on to support this contention. The facts in Nelson v. Franklin are in many r.espects similar to those in the case at bar, except in the Nelson case the husband was the head of the family while in this case it was alleged and…
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Doing v. Riley, 176 F.2d 449 (5th Cir. 1949)…an interest less than entire m the place of abode'of the family. By the same token, the husband would not lose any legal or equitable interest in the family domicile, if any he had,' upon the death of the wife. In Nelson v. Franklin, 152 Fla. 694, 12 So. 2d 771, Nelson and his wife moved to the home of the wife where they lived until her death.-. Thereupon Nelson, as the surviving husband, brought suit for partition and division of this home. He predicated his right to partition on the ground that his wife…
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