46 Wash. 578 | Wash. | 1907
In 1819 Eugene R. Durkee, then domiciled and having his residence in the state of New York, intermarried with one Cynthia H. Durkee, and thereafter lived with her as his wife in that state until 1889. In the year last named, Mrs. Durkee died intestate, leaving as her sole heirs-at-law the respondents in this action. During the time the marriage existed, Eugene R. Durkee conducted a manufacturing business in the state of New York, and accumulated as the profits of such business a considerable fortune. In 1888, a year prior to the death of his wife, he used a portion of the fortune so accumulated in the purchase of certain real property situated in Pierce county in this state, and in 1902 died in the state of New York, leaving a will by which he devised the property to the appellants. Neither the husband or wife ever resided or had a domicile in this state. The respondents claim that the real property mentioned was the community property of Eugene and Cynthia Durkee, and that they have an undivided half interest therein as heirs of their mother. The appellants claim that the property -was the separate property of Eugene R. Durkee, and that they are the owners of the whole thereof by virtue of the will. At the trial it was conceded that the rules of the common law governed the ownership of personal property acquired by a husband in the course of trade or business in the state of New York, and that money and other personal property accumulated by him in that state, became his sole and separate property subject
The statutes of this state defining separate and community property read as folloAvs :
“Property and pecuniary rights owned by the husband before marriage, and that acquired by him afteiuvards by gift, bequest, devise or descent, Avith the rents, issues, and profits thereof, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of his AA'ife, and he may manage, lease, sell, convey, encumber, or deA'ise, by will, such property without the wife j oining in such management, alienation, or incumbrance, as fully and to the same effect as though he Avere unmarried.”
“The property and pecuniary rights of every married woman at the time of her marriage, or afterAvards acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance, Avith the rents, issues, and profits thereof, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of her husband, and she may manage, lease, sell, convey, encumber or devise by will such property, to the same extent and in the same manner that her husband can, property belonging to him.”
“Property, not acquired or OAvned as prescribed in the next two preceding sections, acquired after marriage by either husband or Avife, or both, is community property. The husband shall have the management and control of community personal property, with a like power of disposition as he has of his separate personal property, except he shall not devise by Avill more than one-half thereof.” Bal. Code, §§ 4488, 4489, and 4490 (P. C. §§ 3875, 3867, 3876).
These statutes, the respondents assert, make no distinction betAveen property acquired within this state and property acquired in another state and brought into this state; but that under these statutes all property acquired after marriage
But while the statute broadly construed gives countenance to the contention of the respondents, we cannot think it was the intention of the legislature that no distinction should be made between property acquired wholly within this state by the joint efforts of husband and wife, and property acquired by them elsewhere and brought within this state. If it were the intent of the statute that property acquired in another jurisdiction and brought within the state should become community property, its legality might be seriously questioned. It would destroy vested rights. It would take from one of the spouses property over which he or she had sole and absolute dominion and ownership, and vest an interest therein in the other, and if the spouse should be the wife it would not only take away her absolute title, but would take away from her her right to control and manage the property, and make it subject to the separate debts of the husband whether or not she derived any benefit from their contracting, or had any legal or moral obligation to pay them. Therefore, without entering further into the reasons for the rule, we are clear that personal property acquired by either husband or wife in a foreign jurisdiction, which is by law of the place where acquired the separate property of one or the other of the spouses, continues to be the separate property of that spouse when brought within this state; and it being the separate property of that spouse owning and bringing it here, property in this state, whether real or personal, received in exchange for it, or purchased by it if it be money, is also the separate property of such spouse.
While this question has not been directly before this court, analogous cases sustaining the rule can be found. In Freeburger v. Gazzam, 5 Wash. 772, 32 Pac. 732, certain per
The rule that property acquired in a foreign jurisdiction, which is there the separate property of one of the spouses, maintains its separate character when brought into a state having community property laws, prevails also in California,. Texas, and Louisiana. Kraemer v. Kraemer, 52 Cal. 302; In re Burrows’ Estate, 136 Cal. 113, 68 Pac. 488; Oliver v. Robertson, 41 Texas 422; Blethen v. Bonner, 30 Tex. Civ. App. 585, 71 S. W. 290; Thayer v. Clarke (Tex. Civ. App.), 77 S. W. 1050; Tanner v. Robert, 5 Martin (La. N. S.) 255; Young v. Templeton, 4 La. Ann. 254.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded with instructions to enter a judgment in accordance with this conclusion.
Hadley, C. J., Mount, and Crow, JJ., concur.