6 Wash. 507 | Wash. | 1893
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Respondent and George. F. Abbott were married in the State of Ohio, in 1852, and have ever since lived together as husband and wife until the death of Abbott in the State of Washington, in 1890. At the time of the marriage respondent had no property, at' least the testimony convinces us that she had none wmrthy of consideration; none which has been the source of any accumu
The debt upon which the judgment was based was contracted in the ordinary course of the husband’s business for the benefit of the community, and is therefore a community debt. Oregon Improvement Co. v. Sagmeister, 4 Wash. 710 (30 Pac. Rep. 1058). Hence if the property was community property it was properly listed by the administi’ator, and should be made to respond to the community debt.
We must look to our statutes alone to determine what constitutes sepax’ate property. See. 1398, Gen. Stat., provides what px'operty is the separate property of the wife, viz., the property and pecuniary rights of every marx’ied woman at the time of her marriage and afterwards acquired
“I obtained it in this way: He would give me money for the house, and whatever was over, was mine. He gave me money to purchase things; I used to spend part of what he gave me, and the rest of it was mine; and doing that, I very soon accumulated money.”
This surplus, respondent says, she loaned to her husband when he was in need of a little ready money, and as he did not pay it back to her she takes credit for the amount which her husband paid' on the purchase price on the land in question. This is, to say the least, a novel and ingenious method of attempting to convert community property into separate property. Counsel for the respondent seems to think that his client is entitled to great credit on account of her economical habits, and for being able to save something out of the bountiful provision made by the husband for the household expenses; and no doubt she should have, if the economy had been practiced in the interests of the
It is true that Abbott stated to Mrs. Woolen and Mrs. Osgood that his wife had selected these lots, and that she had always worked hard and earned a great deal of money, and that he intended the land as a home for her; but such expressions are common with husbands who have not a thought of separate property. Most husbands are considerate enough of their wives to allow them to' make a selection of their residence, and to accord to them the credit of having worked hard and helped to accumulate what they possess; but such expressions cannot be construed either as
It is, however, claimed that a large portion of the funds which paid for these lots was earned by the wife, and that such earnings were her separate property under the provisions of the statute. The statute, in addition to the property described in § 1398, provides a way in which a married woman can obtain separate estate. Section 1403 provides that the earnings and accumulations of the wife and of her minor children living with her, or in her custody, while she is living separate from her husband, are the separate property of the wife. It is true that § 1402 provides that the wife may receive the wages of her personal labor; but these sections must be construed together, and thus construed we must conclude that her earnings only become her separate property while she is living separate from her husband. Any other construction would render meaningless § 1403, for if § 1402 created her earnings into a separate estate the enactment of §1403 would have been absolutely useless, as all its provisions under this construction are embraced in §1402. And the same reason would apply to §480, Code Proc. While the personal earnings of a wife are exempt, it must be construed to be a statute of exemptions, and in no sense defines separate property. The statute seems to definitely distinguish the rights acquired by wives who are living with their husbands, from the rights acquired by wives who are living separate from their husbands.
Our conclusion is that the property listed by the administrator was properly listed as community property; and the judgment is, therefore, reversed, and the cause remanded to the lower court with instructions to dismiss the same at respondent’s cost.
Hoyt, Scott, Stiles and Aethers, JJ., concur.