Wilson v. Branch

Citations

• 77 Va. 65
• 1883 Va. LEXIS 37

Syllabus

<p>1. Dower.&emdash;Unless impracticable to assign widow dower, in kind; a court of equity has no power against her will to decree sale of the real estate and give her money in lieu of dower.</p> <p>2. Idem&emdash;Sale of the realty.&emdash;The dower right of the widow must be settled before decreeing sale of the real estate.</p> <p>3. Disabilities.&emdash;It is an acknowledged rule, that when there are two or more coexisting disabilities in the same person, when his right of action accrues, he is not obliged to act until the last is removed. This is the rule under the statute of limitations.</p> <p>4. Idem&emdash;Infant feme covert.&emdash;If an infant, who is a married woman, makes an instrument voidable because of her infancy, the disability of coverture enables her to postpone the act of avoidance to a reasonable time after coverture ended.</p> <p>5. Avoidance&emdash;Silent acquiescence.&emdash;Where there is nothing more than silence, many cases hold that an infant’s deed may be avoided at any time after reaching his majority, until he is barred by the statute of limitations, and that silent acquiescence for any period short of the period of limitation is no bar.</p> <p>6. Case at Bar.&emdash;An infant feme covert, and her husband, in 1845, granted her “maiden land”&emdash;half of “Cedar Lawn”&emdash;to G., who next day conveyed it to the husband, who owned the other half. In 1876 he and she conveyed the whole in trust to secure his debt. He died in October, 1877. His will was probated in December, 1878. In March, 1879, B. and others filed a creditor’s bill to settle his estate and subject his lands to pay his debts. In April, 1879, she answered, renouncing her husband’s will, demanding dower in his lands, disaffirming her deed of 1845 as void by reason of her then infancy, and denying she had ever in any way ratified it. An account showed that the trust-debt, amounting to $1,532.89 was the only debt paramount to dower. The fee simple value of “ Cedar Lawn” was