McDowell v. Beckham

Citations

• 72 Wash. 224
• 130 P. 350
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1439

Syllabus

<p>Judgment — Decree in Probate — Conclusiveness—Collateral Attack. An erroneous decree in probate by a court having jurisdiction, admeasuring dower, not appealed from, fixes the widow’s interest and is conclusive, and cannot later be collaterally attached by grantees of the widow claiming that she owned a half interest in fee under the community property laws.</p> <p>Lire Estates — Adverse Possession — Hostile Position — Lire Tenant — Rights or Remainderman. Remaindermen are not bound to assert their title during the lifetime of the life tenant, and adverse possession under the ten-year statute of limitations, Rem. & Bal. Code, § 156, cannot be claimed, as against them, under a deed from the life tenant purporting to convey the fee.</p> <p>Lire Estates — Adverse Possession — Acts Constituting — Cutting Timber. Cutting timber by a life tenant is not necessarily an act of possession, but is usually an act of waste.</p> <p>Lire Estates — Adverse Possession — “Title.” One claiming title under a deed of the fee from the life tenant cannot hold adversely to the remaindermen, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 786, the seven-year statute of limitations for the recovery of lands held adversely under title in law or equity; “title” as there employed meaning a fee simple and not a limited fee.</p> <p>Life Estates — Advekse Possession — Claim and Colob of Title— Good Faith. The payment of taxes for seven years under color and claim of title in good faith, within Rem. & Bal. Code, § 789, cannot be asserted, as against remaindermen, under a deed from the life tenant purporting to convey the fee, as the claim cannot be asserted in good faith.</p> <p>Remaindebs — Right of Action — Limitation and Laches. Remaindermen are not guilty of laches in failing to assert title during the lifetime of the life tenant, even if the life tenant conveyed his interests by deed purporting to convey the fee.</p> <p>Remaindebs — Waste—-Right of Action. The statutory right of action for waste by remaindermen