RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge.
Ernestine Dodson appeals the Pulaski County Circuit Court's order quieting title to a residential property in Little Rock in the name of Heidi Lovelace. On appeal, Ernestine argues that the circuit court erred in finding that Heidi established prima facie title pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 18-60-506 (Repl.2015). Ernestine additionally argues that the court exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering her to quiet title of the property to Heidi and to pay her ex-husband, Eugene Jones, his one-half interest in the property. We reverse.
Ernestine and Eugene bought 8 Timber Valley Cove in 1978. In 1982, Ernestine and Eugene divorced. Their divorce decree, issued by the Pulaski County Circuit Court, provided that
Ernestine continued to live at the residence until she remarried and bought a home with her new husband in 1990. At that time, she entered into a lease-purchase agreement with her brother, Michael Lovelace, and his then-wife, Heidi. The lease-purchase agreement provides in part as follows:
The agreement lists Ernestine as the seller and Michael and Heidi as the purchasers.
In 2003, Eugene filed a claim against Ernestine in their divorce action concerning
In January 2007, Ernestine gave Michael and Heidi a letter that provided as follows:
After receiving the letter, Michael and Heidi continued to live at the property but stopped making the monthly payments. In 2011, Michael and Heidi divorced, and Michael relinquished any interest in the house. In 2012, Ernestine issued Heidi a notice of eviction, but Heidi did not vacate the house.
On August 5, 2013, Heidi filed a complaint against Ernestine and Eugene for their failure to transfer title of 8 Timber Valley Cove. She alleged nine claims against Ernestine: (1) breach of contract, (2) fraud, (3) unjust enrichment, (4) negligence, (5) conversion, (6) trespass to chattels, (7) intentional misrepresentation, (8) defalcation, and (9) breach of fiduciary duty. She also alleged a quiet-title claim against both Ernestine and Eugene. On May 9, 2014, the court dismissed the nine claims against Ernestine as barred by the statute of limitations.
At trial, Heidi testified that after she and Michael had agreed to the terms of the lease-purchase agreement, they received a payment booklet in the mail from Worthen Bank ("Worthen"), and they made the monthly payments to Worthen. She testified that the receiver of the payments changed thereafter and that she also made payments to First Commercial Mortgage Co. ("First Commercial"), Regions Bank, and Rainey Realty ("Rainey"). She admitted that she knew her payments were going into an escrow account but assumed the increasing monthly payment meant that she was also paying taxes and insurance on the house. She testified that she made the homeowner's insurance payments and that she would not have made them if she was renting. Heidi also introduced into evidence the lease-purchase agreement and the January 2007 letter.
Following Heidi's testimony, Ernestine and Eugene moved for a directed verdict and argued that Heidi had failed to establish prima facie title pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 18-60-506. The court denied the motion.
Ernestine then presented her case. She testified that she completed her mortgage payments on the house in 1992 and that First Commercial held the mortgage at that time. She noted that she made $96,960 in payments since 1982. She explained that the purchase price in the lease-purchase agreement was $40,000, because
Eugene then testified on his behalf. He stated that he did not authorize the sale of the house to Michael and Heidi and that he has not received any compensation from Ernestine. He did not object to Heidi living in the house as long as he received his share of the proceeds from the sale.
Following the bench trial, the court entered an order finding that Heidi had satisfied the requirements under Arkansas Code Annotated section 18-60-506. The court quieted title to Heidi and ordered Ernestine to pay Eugene his one-half interest in the property. Following the entry of the court's order,
We traditionally review quiet-title actions de novo. Gibbs v. Stiles, 2011 Ark.App. 302, 383 S.W.3d 453. We will not, however, reverse findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. Id. at 440, 214 S.W.3d at 877. A finding of fact is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, we are left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Price v. Rywell, 95 Ark.App. 228, 235 S.W.3d 908 (2006).
Ernestine first argues that the court erred in finding that Heidi established both elements for a prima facie case for quiet title pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 18-60-506. Section 18-60-506 provides that prima facie title is shown by (1) proof of color of title and (2) payment of taxes for more than seven years. We first address whether the court erred in finding that Heidi offered proof of color of title.
Ernestine argues that Heidi failed to establish color of title because the only proof she offered was the lease-purchase agreement and the January 2007 letter, and neither of those documents purported to give Heidi title to the property. This court has stated that
Weast v. Hereinafter Described Lands, 33 Ark.App. 157, 158-59, 803 S.W.2d 565, 566 (1991) (quoting Bailey v. Jarvis, 212 Ark. 675, 680, 208 S.W.2d 13, 15 (1948) (quoting State v. King, 77 W.Va. 37, 87 S.E. 170 (1915))) (emphasis added). Examples of instruments that have constituted color of title in Arkansas include a deed conveying property that had already been conveyed three years prior, a deed from a cotenant purporting to convey a fee simple, and a void tax deed. See Jones v. Barger, 67 Ark.App. 337, 1 S.W.3d 31 (1999); Welder v. Wiggs, 31 Ark.App. 163, 790 S.W.2d 913 (1990); Horn v. Blaney, 268 Ark. 885, 597 S.W.2d 109 (Ark.Ct.App.1980) (holding that a void tax deed constituted color of title even though it conveyed land owned by the United States and thus was not subject to taxation).
However, our supreme court has held that a deed purporting to pass title but that is void on its face cannot be color of title. Darr v. Lambert, 228 Ark. 16, 305 S.W.2d 333 (1957) (holding that a deed containing an indefinite property description is void and does constitute color of title for a claim); but see Belcher v. Stone, 67 Ark.App. 256, 998 S.W.2d 759 (1999) (holding that a deed constituted color of title because a surveyor was able to locate the tract from the description). Further, we have held that a claimant cannot successfully prove color of title when the deed was made for the purpose of creating color of title. Weast, 33 Ark.App. 157, 803 S.W.2d 565. Claimants have also been unsuccessful in establishing color of title with a certificate of purchase issued at a tax sale and a contract for the sale of land. Willm v. Dedman, 172 Ark. 783, 787, 290 S.W. 361, 363 (1927) ("[Appellant's] 1914 contract for the purchase of the land did not constitute color of title. His deed of date June 13, 1918, constituted his first color of title, and at the time this suit was instituted he had not paid the taxes for 7 years under his deed."); Thorne v. Magness, 34 Ark.App. 39, 805 S.W.2d 95 (1991).
With this precedent in mind, we hold that the circuit court erred in finding that Heidi established color of title. The lease-purchase agreement contained only Ernestine's promise to sell the property upon Heidi paying the monthly payments for eighteen years. The agreement did not purport to transfer title, and a lease-purchase agreement is not an instrument or paper by which title usually and ordinarily passes. The January 2007 letter further indicates that Heidi did not have color of title. In the letter, Ernestine recognized that Michael and Heidi had fulfilled their obligations under the lease-purchase agreement but admitted that she could not transfer title to the property. Accordingly, we hold that Heidi failed to establish color of title. Because Heidi failed to establish color of title, a requisite element of prima facie title under section 18-60-506, we must reverse, and we need not address Ernestine's remaining points on appeal.
Reversed.
Glover and Hixson, JJ., agree.