Court Opinion

ID: 9729048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:25:22.286289+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:55.047558
License: Public Domain

HOYLE, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Because Pierce’s affidavit did not conflict with his interrogatory answers regarding the Rockwall property being his homestead for a time period including October 13, 2000, the trial court correctly determined that no genuine issue of material fact existed in the case. Therefore, the trial court properly granted summary judgment, and that judgment should be affirmed.
The Bank filed its abstract of judgment in Van Zandt County on October 13, 2000. Pierce claims that the judgment cannot attach to his Canton property solely because the Canton property is protected by Texas homestead laws. If the Canton property was not Pierce’s homestead on October 13, 2000, the bank’s lien can be foreclosed because the property cannot then be protected by Texas homestead laws. See Inwood N. Homeowners’ Ass’n, Inc. v. Harris, 736 S.W.2d 632, 635 (Tex.1987) (“[W]hen the property has not become a homestead at the execution of the mortgage, deed of trust or other hen, the homestead protections have no application even if the property later becomes a homestead.”). Thus, the potential material fact issue in this case is whether the Canton property could have been Pierce’s homestead on October 13, 2000.
“We construe homestead laws generously; however, courts cannot unduly stretch the homestead laws beyond their constitutional and statutory moorings and protect that which is not a homestead.” Norris v. Thomas, 215 S.W.3d 851, 853 (Tex.2007). A party cannot have two homesteads at the same time. Silvers v. Welch, 127 Tex. 58, 62, 91 S.W.2d 686, 687 (1936). A homestead can be abandoned. Id. If abandonment is not based upon a finding that a new homestead has been established, abandonment can be a fact question. See Kendall Builders, Inc. v. Chesson, 149 S.W.3d 796, 807-08 (Tex.App.-Austin 2004, pet. denied). But when a person establishes a new homestead, he abandons his old homestead as a matter of law. See Silvers, 127 Tex. at 62, 91 S.W.2d at 687-88. Therefore, even if the Canton property was Pierce’s homestead at some point before October 13, 2000, the Bank still could show there was no fact issue about whether the Canton property was Pierce’s homestead on October 13, 2000 by (1) proving abandonment as a matter of law through the various factors demonstrating intent to abandon or (2) proving abandonment because a new homestead was established. See id.
Here, the summary judgment evidence clearly proves Pierce had established a new homestead. In two separate interrogatory answers, Pierce identified his homestead as being the Rockwall property from February 1998 to March 2002. The major*719ity addresses his admission of the Rock-wall property as his homestead in answer to Interrogatory No. 5. In answer to Interrogatory No. 14, Pierce confirmed that fact:
14. Have you ever resided in Rockwall County, Texas? If so, at what address did you reside and during what period of time[?] Have you ever owned real property in Rock-wall County, Texas? If so, identify that property and the dates between which you owned that property. Did you ever declare your residence in Rockwall County to be your homestead? If so, when did you do that and when did that declaration of homestead cease? ...
ANSWER: Yes. 3914 Mediterranean, Rockwall, TX 75087 — homestead 02-98 to 08-18-02.
Pierce further answered that the Canton property was his homestead from March 2002 to the present. In his brief to this court, Pierce explained his interrogatory answers: “As to each of the properties, Mr. Pierce stated the dates each was officially designated by record as a ‘homestead,’ rather than the dates that the properties qualified as his homesteads.” These sworn statements have not been controverted.4
Instead, when confronted with the Bank’s motion for summary judgment, Pierce stated that he believed he could have two homestead properties at the same time.5 As evidence that the Canton property also was his homestead, he presented the court with an affidavit regarding his intended use of the Canton property, but he never specifically stated that the Canton property was his homestead on October 13, 2000. Further, that affidavit was silent as to whether the Rockwall property was his homestead on October 13, 2000. Obviously, he was wrong in his belief that the Rockwall property and the Canton property could be his homestead at the same time. Once he swore that his homestead had been the Rockwall property on October 13, 2000, the factors listed in his affidavit regarding intent as to the Canton property became immaterial. Once a new homestead is established, abandonment occurs as a matter of law. See Silvers, 127 Tex. at 62, 91 S.W.2d at 687-88. Thus, those factors listed in Pierce’s affidavit can all be taken as true but they cannot make the Canton property an additional homestead. To bring the homestead nature of the Canton property into genuine issue, Pierce needed to swear that the Rockwall property was not his homestead on October 13, 2000. This he did not do.
In summary, the evidence shows that on the relevant date, Pierce’s homestead was the Rockwall property. That evidence was not controverted. As such, the Bank demonstrated that no genuine issue of material fact existed, and the trial court properly granted summary judgment. The trial court’s judgment should be affirmed.6

. Even in oral argument before this court, Pierce claimed that there was no conflict between his interrogatory answers and his affidavit.

. In Pierce's response to the Bank's motion for summary judgment, he states that "Plaintiff Pierce treated and intended for both properties to be his homestead property."

.The majority also discusses the applicability of the "sham affidavit doctrine.” Because the affidavit and interrogatory do not conflict as *720to whether the Rockwall property was Pierce’s homestead on October 13, 2000, I do not reach the applicability of the doctrine to this case.