Smith v. Tanner

Citations

• 32 S.C. 259
• 10 S.E. 1008
• 1890 S.C. LEXIS 43

Syllabus

<p>1. A mother conveyed land to her children, to he equally divided between them after her death hy three appraisers of their selection. In 1854, after her death, these children, and the husbands of the married daughters, under hand and seal, appointed two agents to sell the lands and divide the proceeds, and gave bond to ratify the acts of their agents and to make titles to the purchasers. These agents accordingly sold these lands in two tracts in 1854, L., a son, buying one tract, and S., the husband of a daughter, buying another, and a deed was executed to L., signed by the parties in interest and their husbands, hut Mrs. S. did not sign nor relinquish her inheritance thereon, as required hy law. All parties received their share of the proceeds of sale, husbands receipting for their wives’ portions. S. died in 1886 (the tract purchased by him having been previously sold for his debts), and in 1887 his widow brought action against defendants, as alienees, for the recovery of the tract of land purchased hy L. Held, that the sale should be sustained as a family settlement, and that, under the circumstances, a deed, with a proper relinquishment of inheritance, would be presumed from lapse of time.</p> <p>2. An agreement for partition, signed by married women and their husbands, and by the other parties in interest, may be specifically enforced by a Court of Equity.</p>