262 So. 2d 641
John Harrison Weedon was born in High Point, North Carolina.1 After living throughout the South and two prior marriages that produced daughters Florence Weedon Baker and Delette Weedon Jones, he purchased Oakland Farm, a 152.95-acre tract in Alcorn County, in 1905.2 In 1915, at age 55, Weedon married 17-year-old Anna Plaxico; the couple worked the farm together, and Anna's daily labor hoeing, picking cotton, and milking fifteen cows protected the property during the difficult years after World War I.3
Weedon executed his will in 1925, granting Anna a life estate in all his property with remainder to her children if any existed and otherwise to his grandchildren in equal shares, while expressly excluding his daughters because they had not cared for him in his later years.4 Weedon died in 1932.5 Anna remarried J.E. Myers in 1933, but that union produced no children that would terminate the grandchildren's contingent remainder.6
Anna continued operating Oakland Farm until 1955, after which the land was rented for $1,000 per year plus $300 annually from sign rental and $50 monthly in social security.7 No contact occurred between Anna and Weedon's children or grandchildren from 1932 until 1964.8 At the time of suit Anna was 73 years old and her income was insufficient for her comfortable maintenance given her age and infirmities.9
In 1964 the Mississippi State Highway Department acquired a right-of-way across the farm for the U.S. Highway 45 bypass, paying $20,000 of which Anna received $7,500 to construct a new home.10 A 1970 contract for the sale of soil from the property yielded an additional $1,000 to Anna.11 At trial the property's commercial value was $168,500 and was projected to reach $336,000 within four years because of the highway construction and the growth of Corinth.12
Anna filed suit in the Chancery Court of Alcorn County seeking a sale of the property less the house site, with the proceeds invested so that interest would provide her adequate income.13 The chancellor ordered the sale.14 The contingent remaindermen Henry Baker, Sarah Baker Lyman, and Louise Virginia Baker Heck took an interlocutory appeal to the Supreme Court of Mississippi to review the decree.15
Whether the Chancery Court of Alcorn County properly ordered a sale of land subject to a life estate and contingent remainders when the property was not physically deteriorating?16
A court of equity possesses inherent authority to order a judicial sale of land burdened by future interests and to direct investment of the proceeds.17 This authority exists when necessary to preserve all interests in the property.18 It also applies when required for the best interests of every party, including both the life tenant and the contingent remaindermen. The power must be exercised with caution and only upon evident need rather than as a matter of course.19
No. Traditional precedents authorizing such sales involved estates that were physically deteriorating with income insufficient to cover taxes and upkeep.20 The present record shows Oakland Farm suffers no physical deterioration and generates rental income adequate to meet tax obligations.21 Although the life tenant faces genuine economic hardship, a sale of the entire tract would inflict substantial financial loss on the remaindermen by depriving them of the significant appreciation already realized and still projected from highway construction.22 The chancellor therefore exceeded the proper scope of equitable discretion by ordering an immediate sale of the whole property.23
The decree directing sale of the entire property is reversed and the cause remanded for further consideration of narrower relief, such as a partial sale or other measures, if the parties cannot agree upon hypothecation of the land.24