51 Fla. 555 | Fla. | 1906
On the 21st day of November, 1904, the appellee filed her bill in chancery in the Circuit Court for Leon county against the appellants, alleging therein, in substance, that T. Glover Rawls, who was the husband of appellee, departed this life on the 21st day of October, 1902, without issue, before his death, however, having made and published his last will and testament, which was duly admitted to probate in the County Judge’s Court for Leon county, on the 30th day of October, 1902, a copy of which is annexed to the bill as an exhibit; that George W. Saxon was named in the will as executor, who duly qualified as such and to whom letters testamentary issued on the 5th day of November, 1902, and who took possession of the real and personal estate of the testator; that the testator died seized and possessed of certain real and personal property situated in the county of Leon, which is specifically described; that on the 17th day of October, 1903, the appellee filed in the office of such
The prayers of the bill were in accordance with and based upon the allegations therein, among others, being for a partition of the lands and for general relief. The oaths to the answers of the defendants were waived, and the bill was verified by the affidavit of the appellee.
On the 2nd day of January, 1905, all of the defendants, except two infants, filed their joint and several answers, wherein they admitted all of the material allegations of the bill except as follows: they did not admit, because they were not fully advised, that the testator died seized and possessed of the lands described therein and required strict proof thereof. They denied that the testator died intestate as to the one hundred and sixty acres of land which he occupied as a homestead or that the same descended to the appellee, and aver that the same was disposed of by the testator in his last will and testatment; they further deny that the appellee is entitled to any interest therein or to any interest in any of the lands described in the bill except her dower; they further deny that the appellee is entitled to all the net rents, issues and profits collected by the executor from the homestead land or to one-half of the net rents, issues and profits collected by him from the other lands, and aver that the -only interest the appellee has therein is her right of dower, which dower had not been set apart to her in manner and form as the law requires, and until that was done she was not entitled to receive any part of the rents, issues and profits from said lands. The answer also contained the general denial usually found in answers in ■chancery.
Replications were filed to these answers and an examiner appointed to take the testimony, by whom a report thereof was duly made, including the testimony so taken before him and certain stipulations made by and between the solicitors for the respective parties, which we deem it unnecessary to set forth, further than to state that it was mutually agreed that the taking of testimony and all accounting ás to rents, issues and profits sought to be recovered by the appellee from the lands involved or any of them should be postponed until after an order should have been made in the cause by the court adjudicating the rights and interest of the appellee in such lands, and that the examiner .should at once report the testimony and proceedings taken and had before him, so that such adjudication might be had.
On the 14th day of November, 1905, a decree was rendered by the court, finding all the equities in favor of the appellee and granting all the relief sought by her in her bill, ordering a partition of the lands and appointing three commissioners to make the same and referring the cause to Frederick T. Myers, an attorney at law, as Master in Chancery pro hao viee> to make and state an account of what was due to the appellee from the executor for rents, issues and profits, and also to take testimony and report what would be a proper compensation to George P. Raney as solicitor for the appellee. In view of the conclusion which we have reached we deem it unnecessary to set forth the contents of the decree any more fully.
Seven errors are assigned, but there is no occasion for discussing them in detail. The appellee’s right to the relief sought in her bill is largely based upon Chapter 4730 of the laws of 1899, providing that “whenever a person who is the head of a family residing in this State and having his homestead herein, shall die and leaving a widow surviving him, but no children, the homestead shall descend to the widow, and shall not be the .subject of devise by last will and testament.”
It is contended by the appellants, that this Chapter is void because it is in conflict with sections 1 and 4 of Article N of the Constitution of 1885. In Thomas v. Williamson, decided here at the present term, since the appeal in the instant case was taken, we held that this Chapter was not in conflict with section 4, and there is no occasion for our repeating what was there .said. We have given the brief of appellants a careful examination, as well as the authorities cited therein, and see no reason for changing or modifying the views which we expressed in the cited case. Neither has it been made to appear to us wherein the Chapter in question is in any way in conflict with section 1 of Article N, and the same reasoning applied in our cited opinion to section 4 is applicable to section 1, so we content ourselves with saying that we fail to find in what the alleged conflict consists.
It is further contended by the appellants that the Chapter in question is in conflict with section 16 of Article III of the Constitution of 1885, providing that “Each law enacted in the legislature shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title.”
It is also contended by the appellants that the act is void because it is in conflict with Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, “in that it seeks to abridge the privileges of one class of citizens of the United States by permitting another class of such citizens to exercise and enjoy the privileges withheld from the class against whom the discrimination is made.” In support of this contention the appellants argue that the act is discriminative in that it denies to a married man who has no children the
The appellants also contend that the appellee, having dissented from the terms of the will, is restricted to her dower interest in the testator’s estate and has no right to elect a child’s part therein. We cannot agree to this contention, hut do not deem any extended discussion thereof necessary. Section 1830 of the Revised Statutes of 1892 provides how the widow may dissent from the terms and provisions of a will, in which case she shall be entitled to dower, while section 1833 provides that “in all cases in which the widow of a deceased person shall be entitled to dower, she may elect to take in lieu thereof a child’s part.” See Harrell v. Harrell, 8 Fla. 46; Benedict v. Wilmarth, 46 Fla. 535, 35 South. Rep. 84.
Finding no error in the decree appealed from, it follows that the same must be affirmed, and it is so ordered, .at the cost of the appellants.