138 Ga. 530 | Ga. | 1912
In 1884 A. A. Bell obtained a fi. fa. against James T. Carter. Mrs. Mary A. Carter, the mother of the defendant in fi. fa., died intestate in 1909, leaving six children, all of age ami under no legal disability, among them the defendant in fi. fa. At the time of her death Mrs. Carter owned the title to 152 acres of land, in which she had taken a homestead in 1885 for the benefit of herself and her dependent and .infirm daughter, Miss Laura E. Carter, then about 42 years old. After the death of Mrs. Carter in 1909, there being no administration on her estate, the executor of Bell, the plaintiff in fi. fa., caused the execution to be levied upon an undivided one-sixth interest in the homestead lands as the property of the defendant in fi. fa., James T. Carter. Miss Laura E. Carter filed her claim “solely by reason of and because of said homestead set apart in 1885.” The court below held that the homestead still remained in force after the death of Mrs. Carter, for the benefit of the claimant; and directed a verdict accordingly. To this judgment the plaintiff in fi. fa. excepted, and brought the cause to this court for review.
The sole question is whether the homestead set apart to Mrs. Carter and her dependent daughter terminated on the death of Mrs. Carter. We think the homestead did terminate at her death. In the case of Towns v. Mathews, 91 Ga. 546 (17 S. E. 955), it was held: “A homestead 'set apart in 1873, by the head of a family for the benefit of his wife and a minor granddaughter, terminated on arrival at majority of the granddaughter, the family having been previously dissolved by the death of both the other members. The condition of, the granddaughter as a dependent female would not extend the duration of the homestead, the person on whom she was dependent being no longer in life.” And sec Haynes v. Schaefer, 96 Ga. 743 (22 S. E. 327), In the ease of Jones v. McCrary, 123 Ga. 282 (51 S. E. 349), this court held: “An applicant took a homestead in 1869 as the 'head of a family/ consisting of himself and eleven children — four sons and seven daughters. The applicant died in 1885, after all of the children had reached majority. Four of the daughters were living, on the place with him at the time of his death, and have continued to live on it and support themselves out of its proceeds. Held, that the only claim of the four daughters as beneficiaries of the homestead was as dependent relatives of the applicant; and when he
'Judgment reversed.