Court Opinion

ID: 9664021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:00:03.529537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:01.303672
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
MERRILL, Justice.
The decree which was affirmed in part by this Court was a decree of sale of the homestead and dower lands of one of the complainants, Mrs. Hattie Cook. Among other things that decree provides that when the register reports the sale, “the court will * * * fix and ascertain the value of the homestead and dower interests of Mrs. Hattie Cook” etc.
We think appellant is asking us to decide something which is not before us. The fixing and ascertainment of the value of the dower is a matter which will be before the circuit court, in equity, after the sale has been made and confirmed and the proceeds paid into court. We make the following notations and cite these cases merely for the lower court’s convenience. We quote from Beavers v. Smith, 11 Ala. 20, at page 33:
“The dowress has 'but a life estate, where lands are assigned to her, and when from the necessity of the case, instead of the use of the land, she receives money, it should partake of the same qualities — the annual value of the portion which would have been assigned her, had it been practicable to do so. If the parties agree to a gross sum, as the value of the life interest, the court would of course give effect to it. In the absence of such an agreement, the decree must be for the payment * * * annually thereafter during the life of the dowress, of the sum ascertained to be the annual value of her dower interest.” Sherard v. Sherard’s Admr., 33 Ala. 488, 492; Thompson v. Thompson, 107 Ala. 163, 18 So. 247; Kelly v. Deegan, 111 Ala. 156, 20 So. 378; Chapman v. York, 212 Ala. 540, 103 So. 567; Etheredge v. Etheredge, 219 Ala. 660, 123 So. 48 ; 102 A.L.R. 971, 973, 979, 981; 33 Am. Jur., sections 272-274; Title 61, section 272, Code 1940.
The application for rehearing is overruled.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON and STAKELY, JJ., concur.