123 Ark. 347 | Ark. | 1916
This suit was brought by the appellants against the appellee to quiet title to a certain tract of land in Arkansas County. Plaintiffs alleged that the land in ‘suit was sold by I. W. Ingram, trustee, and W. N. Carpenter to C. M. Farmer on October 10, 1903; that subsequent to that time a judgment was obtained against C. M. Farmer and W. N. Carpenter in the Monroe Circuit Court; that the land in suit was sold under an execution issued on that judgment and purchased by Hattie O. Carpenter; that Hattie O. Carpenter conveyed the land to Clinton Acker, as trustee for the children of W. N. Carpenter, the plaintiffs; that the defendant Wm. DeVore claimed an interest in the land. Plaintiffs alleged that the claim of Devore was a cloud upon their title; that Devore deraigned title from the same source as plaintiffs, and they asked that Devore’s title be set aside and cancelled as a cloud upon their title.
The defendant, in his answer,' denied every allegation of the complaint, and set up that the judgment mentioned in the complaint was not a lien upon the land in controversy; that no lis pendens notice was filed in Arkansas County, and that defendant was an innocent purchaser.
The court found that appellee was an innocent purchaser for value and entered a decree dismissing appellants ■ complaint and quieting title in appellee. Whether this finding and decree of the court was correct, is the only question wé need consider on this appeal.
Appellants, the trustees, and the beneficiaries, deraigned title through a deed from Hattie O. Carpenter, who purchased the land in controversy under an execution issued against C. M. Farmer. The deed of W. N. Carpenter and Hattie O. Carpenter to Acker, the trustee, under which appellants claim, was executed December 30, 1905, and was recorded in Arkansas County, where the land was situated, January 1,1907. As early as 1904, C. M. Farmer conveyed the land in controversy to Fred Farmer, and in about three months thereafter, Fred Farmer conveyed the land to Mrs. C. M.. Farmer. The deed from C. M. Farmer and wife, under which appellee claims title was executed March 28, 1906, and was filed for' record and recorded in the county where the land is situated the 31st of March, 1906. It therefore appears that the deed under which appellants claim title was not recorded until about one year after appellee’s deed was recorded.
Conceding, without deciding, that appellee’s vendor had made prior conveyances of tbe property in controversy to defraud creditors before appellee purchased, still appellee, having no knowledge of, and being in no manner connected with, such fraud, and having no knowledge that his vendor-was even indebted to any one, so far as the proof in this record shows, would be protected as an innocent purchaser for value. See South Omaha National Bank v. Boyd, 79 Ark. 215; Hoskins v. Fayetteville Gro. Co., 79 Ark. 399.
The decree is therefore correct, and it is affirmed.