127 Ind. 296 | Ind. | 1891
The question presented by this record is this: Can a widow secure the five hundred dollars allowed her by statute where the property of her deceased husband is held under a levy made by the sheriff before the husband’s death ?
This question must be answered in the affirmative. The levy did not change the title to the property, that still remained in the husband. He was the owner notwithstanding the levy, and he might have successfully claimed an amount equal in value to six hundred dollars as exempt from execution. He had not parted with the title, nor surrendered ownership, so that the decisions in such cases as Recker v. Kilgore, 62 Ind. 10, are not of controlling influence. The decision in Quakenbush v. Taylor, 86 Ind. 270, is not unfavorable to the widow’s claim, although it is probable that some expressions in the opinion seem to be against it; but such expressions are not authoritative; especially do such expressions lack authority when, as is true of the case referred to, there are inconsistent statements in the opinion.
The statute which gives the widow the right to five hundred dollars is clear and comprehensive, and it expresses the intention of the Legislature to give her that sum out of property of which her husband died the owner, and which he might, if living, have exempted from sale on ex
Judgment affirmed.