91-7-209 - Purchase-money a charge on property.
§ 91-7-209. Purchase-money a charge on property.
Where the property of a decedent shall be sold by order of the court in which the estate is being administered, and the price paid at such sale for the property has been applied to the payment of debts for which the property might lawfully have been sold, or has been distributed to the heirs, legatees, or distributees, or to the guardians of such as have guardians, the property, if such sale were illegal, shall be charged in favor of the purchaser and his assigns with a lien for the purchase-money paid for it at such sale, and interest thereon. Such lien may be enforced in chancery or may be availed of in defense of any action for the land, in the same manner in which a claim for valuable improvements may be allowed in equity. In case of personal property, the possessor having such lien shall be entitled to retain possession until his claim be paid or tendered, unless the party having the title shall resort to the chancery court to adjust the rights of the parties and to sell said property.
Sources: Codes, 1880, § 2052; 1892, § 1907; 1906, § 2082; Hemingway's 1917, § 1749; 1930, § 1700; 1942, § 597.