Christopher v. Cox

The question this appeal presents is whether the bankruptcy court erred in determining that the contemporaneous execution of a warranty deed to a tract of land and a contract giving the grantee an option to purchase the land within a time certain created a mortgage in which the grantee became the mortgagor and the grantor the mortgagee. The district court found no error and upheld the bankruptcy court’s ruling. We affirm.

I

A

In 1984, Richard Jon Cox became the owner of the Bar C Ranch (the “Ranch”), a 450-acre tract of land on the outskirts of the City of Covington, Georgia. In 1994, Cox sold a…