139 Iowa 479 | Iowa | 1908
Aside from some technical question, this appeal presents for our consideration the proper construction of section 1304, Code Supp. 1902, which so far as material, reads as follows: “All soldiers or widows thereof shall'receive a reduction of $800 at the time said assessment is made by the assessor unless waiver thereof is voluntarily made of said exemption at said time; but this exemption shall not apply in the case of any soldier or the widow of such soldier owning property of the actual value of $5,000 or where the
Reversal is sought upon the following grounds: (1) That neither plaintiff, nor any one for him, appeared before the board of review and claimed his exemption; (2) there is no proof that plaintiff’s wife was not possessed of property to the value of $5,000'; (3) there is no proof that plaintiff was not possessed of property to the value of $5,000; and (4) the district court was without jurisdiction, for the reason that no transcript of the proceedings before the board was filed in the district court, and as that court had no jurisdiction, this court has none. The first and last of these are technical, and do not go to the merits of the controversy.
But he did have a life estate in the lands, reserved by the deed to which reference has been made; and this life estate is as much property as if it were a fee. Plaintiff has given us no other proof of its value, save as he showed the income therefrom. Taking that as a basis, it must be assumed that it was worth such sum as, added to his other property, made his total holdings worth more than $5,000. A property which produces an annual income of $400 or $500 is manifestly worth more than $2,660, even though it is not to endure or exist for more than twelve years; being plaintiff’s expectancy of life. Capitalized by the table given in our Code for the valuation of life estates, it was worth
Under these rules it is apparent that plaintiff was possessed of property of the actual value of $5,000, and that he was not entitled to the exemption.