HOMESTEAD
The dwelling house and its adjoining land where a
family resides. Technically, and pursuant to the
modern homestead exemption laws, an artificial
estate in land, created to protect the possession and
enjoyment of the owner against the claims of cred-
itors by preventing the sale of the property for pay-
ment of the owner’s debts so long as the land is
occupied as a home.
Laws exempting the homestead from liabil-
ity for debts of the owner are strictly of U.S. ori-
gin. Under the English COMMON LAW,a
homestead right, a personal right to the peace-
ful, beneficial, and uninterrupted use of the
home property free from the claims of creditors,
did not exist. Homestead rights exist only
through the constitutional and statutory provi-
sions that create them. Nearly every state has
enacted such provisions. The earliest ones were
enacted in 1839 in the Republic of Texas.
Homestead exemption statutes have been
passed to achieve the public policy objective of
providing lodgings where the family can peace-
fully reside irrespective of financial adversities.
These laws are predicated on the theory that
preservation of the homestead is of greater sig-
nificance than the payment of debts.
Property tax exemptions, for all or part of
the tax, are also available in some states for
homesteaded property. Statutory requirements
prescribe what must be done to establish a
homestead.
A probate homestead is one that the court
sets apart out of the estate property for the use
of a surviving spouse and the minor children or
out of the real estate belonging to the deceased.
A homestead corporation is an enterprise
organized for the purpose of acquiring lands in
large tracts; paying off encumbrances, charges
attached to and binding real property; improv-
ing and subdividing tracts into homestead lots
or parcels; and distributing them among the
shareholders and for the accumulation of a fund
