Title: Alexander v. Colston

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

66 So. 2d 673 (1953)
ALEXANDER et al.
v.
COLSTON.

Supreme Court of Florida, Division B.
July 28, 1953.
George A. Speer, Jr., Sanford, for appellants.
Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, Orlando, for appellee.
*674 DREW, Justice.
On December 24, 1896, Roman W. Logan married Maggie Jones. Four children were the issue of said marriage, viz., Ruth, Julia, Clarence and Mae. Just before the birth of Mae (the youngest), Roman W. Logan deserted his family and never returned.
In 1911, after Roman W. Logan deserted Maggie Logan, she entered into a bigamous marriage with one Manuel Rhone, with whom she has since lived as husband and wife.
In 1939, Roman W. Logan entered into a ceremonial marriage with Callie M. Colston and they lived together as man and wife until the death of Roman W. Logan in 1948.
During the period of the marriage of Roman W. Logan and Callie M. Colston they acquired three tracts of land in Orange County, Florida, which we shall hereafter call Tracts 1, 2 and 3, and one tract of land in Duval County, Florida, which we shall hereinafter call Tract 4. Tracts 1, 2 and 3 were acquired in the names of "R.W. Logan and Callie Logan, his wife," while title to Tract 4 was acquired in the name of "R.W. Logan." In the meantime the children Clarence and Ruth had died leaving no issue. Such was the status of the property and the parties at the time of the death of Roman W. Logan in 1948.
Julia, one of the two surviving children, having learned of her father's death, was appointed administratrix of his estate. On June 15, 1951, Julia, individually and as administratrix, joined by the other surviving child Mae, and Maggie, the first and lawful wife of Roman W. Logan, filed their complaint in the lower court against the second wife, Callie, praying that the plaintiffs be declared to be the owners in fee of Tract 4 and the owners of an undivided one-half interest in Tracts 1, 2 and 3.
The proceedings in the lower court resulted in a decree holding that plaintiffs were the fee-simple owners of Tract 4 as the lawful heirs of Roman W. Logan and that Callie (the second wife) was the fee-simple owner of Tracts 1, 2 and 3. This appeal is from that decree.
Following the taking of testimony the defendant moved for leave to file an amendment to her defenses and such was allowed. Such amendment was entitled "Fourth Defense" and reads as follows:
The record here does not contain the evidence but the Master and Chancellor below found that the defendant had sustained the above "Fourth Defense," so the only question before us is whether it provides legal support for the decree complained of.
In the case of Kerivan v. Fogal, 156 Fla. 92, 22 So. 2d 584, 586, we said, in speaking of a very similar situation:
This reasoning is much more applicable to the facts in this case than it was to the facts in the cited case. Here the wife is the innocent party. The husband  plaintiffs' ancestor  was the actual perpetrator of the fraud, having married Callie with the knowledge that he was not divorced from Maggie.
Moreover, Roman W. Logan would have been estopped during his lifetime from contending that the estate created was void because of the bigamous marriage. 31 C.J.S., Estoppel, §§ 123, 125; Gary v. Bullock, 206 La. 231, 19 So. 2d 120. This being so, his heirs are bound by the estoppel. Kerivan v. Fogal, supra; McAdoo v. Moses, 101 Fla. 936, 132 So. 638; Thompson on Real Property, Vol. 5, page 429, Sec. 2629.
We conclude that the Chancellor below correctly decided the issues before him.
Affirmed.
ROBERTS, C.J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.