Harris v. Crowder

NEELY, Justice:

Our task today, for the first time in West Virginia decisional law, is to determine whether creditors can execute upon a husband’s undivided interest in property held jointly with his wife. In the case before us the ineluctable logic of received property law strains in one direction while common humanity and sound public policy strain in the other.

Marvin C. Crowder and Mary Ann Crow-der, his wife, bought their family house from Mitchell and Anna Clay, giving the Clays a first deed of trust to secure the purchase money note. Initially both Mr. and Mrs. Crowder lived on the…