69 So. 916 | Ala. | 1915
In that case it was said that: “The reason of the rule is found in the fact that the property has been exempted by law for the use of the exemptor and his family, and he may insure it to> protect himself and them from loss.”
Unquestionably, after the allotment of the homestead to the widow in this case, if not also before, the proceeds of the insurance policy taken out on the homestead building by her husband were as fully exempt to her as was the building itself. And, if the homestead passed to her' in fee simple by the probate decree of allotment, she owned the insurance money absolutely as against both heirs and creditors. Hence the only real question in this case is whether the probate decree vested the title to the homestead absolutely in the widow.
On the authority of Singo v. McGhee, supra, which has become a rule of property, and which we are not disposed to now overrule, we hold that the petition in the present case was sufficient for jurisdictional purposes. It is not necessary for the petition to aver that the particular property, if any,‘sought to be set aside, was the only property owned by the decedent at his death. The statute (section 4227) merely requires that the court shall .ascertain that the property set aside was all the property left by the decedent, and that he left less property than was exempt by law, as a condition to the vesting of the title absolutely. If it is so ascertained and declared, then the title so vests, whether the decree does or does not expressly so declare.
It results that the decree of the chancery court must be affirmed.
Affirmed.