Dawkins v. Mozie (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-111-12, 5 pp.) (H. Bruce Williams, J.) Appealed from Fairfield County. (Robert Lee Hartman III, Special Referee) S.C. App. Full-text opinion.
Holding: Since her mother devised a .75-acre tract to her in 1992, and despite an eviction action by one of her sisters in 1994, plaintiff has refused to vacate the premises and has continued to live on the property. Plaintiff adversely possessed the property at issue for more than 10 years before she filed this adverse possession action in 2005.
We affirm the special referee’s finding that plaintiff is the sole and exclusive owner of the .75 acres at issue.
The defendant-sisters argue that plaintiff did not possess the property adversely from 1992 to 1996 because, during that time, she claimed ownership under a constructive trust. This argument is based on the following series of events: In 1984, the parties’ father executed a deed conveying a 3.5-acre parcel to the parties’ mother during her lifetime, and upon her death to defendant Mozie. When the mother died in 1992, she left a will that gave the 3.5-acre tract and the house on it to plaintiff. The mother’s will was never probated, but plaintiff moved into the house in 1992 after her mother died.
In 1993, the father filed suit, seeking to set aside his 1984 deed and have the deed construed as a constructive trust, asserting that he had intended for all his heirs to share the property. The father died during the pendency of the lawsuit, and his daughters were substituted as plaintiffs in the action. The circuit court declined to impose a constructive trust.
There is evidence to support the special referee’s finding that, when plaintiff moved onto a .75-acre portion of the 3.5-acre tract in 1992, she was not claiming ownership pursuant to a constructive trust. Plaintiff testified she believed she acquired title pursuant to her mother’s will. She refused to vacate the premises when defendant Mozie brought an eviction action against her in 1994; moreover, she testified she has never paid rent on the property, has made repairs and improvements to the house, and has paid taxes on the property.
There is ample evidence to support the special referee’s finding that plaintiff was in hostile possession of the .75-acre tract from at least 1994 to 2005.
Affirmed.