Higgins

Defendant H. M. Higgins and the plaintiff, Emily J. Higgins, husband and wife, entered into a contract in writing of.date April 9, 1891, whereby they agreed, among other things stipulated, to live apart, and the husband agreed to pay the wife the sum of six hundred dollars per year during her life; such contract contained the following clause: “The payment of said annuity to be a binding and continuing obligation upon the said H. M. Higgins and upon his executors, administrators, and assigns, and to constitute a lien upon his estate during his lifetime, and after his death during the lifetime of the said Emily J. Higgins.” The instrument was duly acknowledged and was recorded on November 12, 1894, in the office •of the county recorder of San Diego county, in which county -certain lands owned by said H. M. Higgins were situated. Subsequently, H. M. Higgins made to the defendant San Diego Savings Bank a mortgage of the lands aforesaid to secure his promissory note to the bank for the sum of five thousand dollars. Plaintiff sued in this action to recover arrears of the said annuity and to subject the said lands—particularly described in her complaint—to sale for the payment thereof.…