Finley v. Dubach

Citations

• 105 Kan. 664
• 185 P. 886
• 1919 Kan. LEXIS 151

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS by the court.</p> <p>Cotenancy — Equitable Partition — Rights of Purchaser from One Co-tenant. Where the owner of an undivided half interest in a tract of land of uniform value executes a warranty deed purporting to convey to a stranger by metes and bounds the whole of a specific portion (being less than half) of the tract, the deed is not a nullity. Although it cannot vest full title in the grantee, it confers on him certain equitable rights, one of which is, in the event of partition, to have the tract covered by the deed set apart to him, if this can be done 'without prejudice to the rights of the nongranting cotenant. And this right of the grantee is not impaired by the grantor’s quitclaiming to the non-granting cotenant his interest in the portion of the tract not covered by the warranty deed, inasmuch as the cotenant thereby acquires no higher right than was held by the maker of the quitclaim. And where in that situation the nongranting cotenant conveys away the whole of the tract not covered by the warranty deed, he is precluded from successfully attacking the title of the grantee under the warranty deed (the deed first herein referred to) to the tract which it covers.</p>