Towner v. Rodegeb

Citations

• 33 Wash. 153
• 74 P. 50
• 1903 Wash. LEXIS 501

Syllabus

<p>Public Lands—Homestead—Exemption from Debts—Heir’s Preference Right to Enter—Administrator's Sale—Validity. Where a settler upon unsurveyed public lands dies without heirs who are citizens of the United States, his administrator cannot sell the improvements and right of possession to pay debts and expenses of administration, but the land is again open to settlement, since heirs do not succeed by right of inheritance, but only by virtue of a preference as new homesteaders, if qualified, and the homestead is exempt from debts.</p> <p>Same—Settler on Unsurveyed Lands—Exemptions. The exemption from debts contracted prior to patent applies with equal force to improvements on unsurveyed land before entry, and after as well as before the death of the settler, and to administrators’ as well as execution sales.</p> <p>Administbatoe’s Sale—Rights oe Pubchaseb. The rule of caveat emptor applies to administrator’s sales.</p>