Truelsen v. Nelson

BARNARD, P. J.

This was an action to quiet title to three parcels of land. The plaintiff, Knud M. Truelsen, died while this appeal was pending and his executors have been substituted. For convenience, we will refer to Knud M. Truelsen as the plaintiff and respondent.

The plaintiff purchased these parcels at a sale under execution which was levied to satisfy a judgment for $35,601.57 which he held against the defendant Herman K. Nelson. The defense to this action was that these parcels of land were the separate property of Mrs. Nelson, the other defendant, having been purchased with funds partly owned by her before her marriage and partly derived from her earnings as a school

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teacher after her marriage. The defendants have appealed from the judgment, on the ground that the evidence is insufficient to support certain findings to the effect that the properties in question were the community property of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson and not the separate property of the latter.

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were married in 1924. From then until 1928, Mr. Nelson received a salary as manager of a 260acre ranch. In 1928, he acquired a half interest in a contract to purchase that ranch, the purchase price being $56,000. In the same year he became indebted to this respondent in the sum of $21,750, giving a note therefor. About a year later he gave the respondent a new note, secured by his interest in the contract for the purchase of the 260 acres. Later that year he seems to have lost his interest in that ranch although he continued to manage it until 1931, drawing the same salary he had drawn prior to 1928.

The first parcel of the property here in question was purchased on contract on July 29, 1931, $1266.92 being paid on account of the purchase price. In 1934, this property was deeded to Mrs. Nelson, at which time a trust deed signed by both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson was placed on the property to secure a loan of $4,000. Payments on that loan were made each year thereafter until 1938, at which time $3,500 had been paid on the principal sum. The second parcel was purchased on November 25, 1931, for $800, of which $200 was paid in cash. The property was deeded to Mrs. Nelson and a trust deed given for the balance of the purchase price, which was signed by both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. This trust deed was paid off in two installments in 1934. The third parcel was deeded to Mrs. Nelson in 1935, the purchase price of $1106 being paid in full. Mr. Nelson farmed the three parcels in question each year after they were deeded to his wife and, in 1932, 1934 and 1935, respectively, he executed crop mortgages covering the crops thereon, in which he represented that he was the owne'r of the land. In 1936, such a crop mortgage was given, which was signed by both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. A well was drilled and a pumping plant was installed for the purpose of furnishing water to a part of this land, one of these contracts being executed by both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson and the other by Mr. Nelson alone.