Enthoven v. Enthoven

167 Misc. 686, 4 N.Y.S.2d 514, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1592
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 167 Misc. 686 (Enthoven v. Enthoven) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Enthoven v. Enthoven, 167 Misc. 686, 4 N.Y.S.2d 514, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1592 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

Daly, J.

The plaintiff is the former wife of Edward J. Enthoven, the defendant, who made the transfers of the properties. The defendant Grahame Enthoven is the son of this marriage. The defendant Grace Clymer Enthoven is the present wife of the defendant Edward J. Enthoven, to whom he was married on February 10, 1937. The latter two defendants are the transferees of the properties involved. The remaining three defendants are members of a firm in which the defendant Edward J. Enthoven is alleged to have a partnership interest and capital investment, which it is claimed was also transferred fraudulently.

On October 11, 1921, the plaintiff and her former husband entered into a separation agreement, providing, among other things, for the payment of $140 per month to the plaintiff, in full for her support and maintenance until her death or remarriage. Subsequent to the making of this agreement the parties were divorced in the State of New Jersey, but the agreement, pursuant to its terms, continued to remain in force and effect. By an agreement dated May 1, 1935, the monthly allowance of $140 was reduced to $100 for a fixed period of time, and to secure the performance of the agreement as modified the sum of $1,200 was deposited with the attorneys for the plaintiff, to be drawn upon in the event of the defendant’s failure to pay the installments in default, said deposit at all times to be maintained in at least the sum of $1,200, and upon the death of Mr. Enthoven this deposit or any balance then remaining, to be turned over to the plaintiff.

Four causes of action are set forth in the complaint. The first and second are based upon two judgments recovered by the plaintiff in July, 1937, predicated upon the breach of the agreement for support, dated October 11, 1921. The third cause of action is to recover the sum of $420 by reason of certain defaults under the [688]*688agreement of separation as modified, as a result of which, the deposit of $1,200 was depleted. This cause of action seeks to replenish the deposit of $1,200, as required by paragraph 3 of the memorandum between the parties, dated May 1, 1935, and also to set aside the transfers alleged to be fraudulent. The fourth cause of action is based upon section 279 of the Debtor and Creditor Law, which gives creditors whose claims have not matured, the remedy of setting aside fraudulent conveyances. It is there alleged that the plaintiff, by reason of the agreement of October 11, 1921, as modified by the agreement of May 1, 1935, is a creditor of an unmatured claim and entitled to set aside the transfers and conveyances alleged in the prior causes of action.

It appears that the sufficiency of these causes of action has been adjudicated by an order of this court dated October 11, 1937, which denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint under rule 106 of the Rules of Civil Practice.

The property which the defendant Edward J. Enthoven transferred and the grantees of such transfers are as follows:

(1) A house and lot at No. 2 Point Circle, Malba, Long Island, which was conveyed by a deed dated and acknowledged the 15th day of January, 1937, and recorded on the 23d of June, 1937. By this deed the grantor conveyed to Grace Clymer (later to become the wife of the defendant Edward J. Enthoven) and Grahame Enthoven, his son, the following interest in the property, subject to an existing mortgage of $6,000:

“ To have and to hold the premises herein eranted only for and during the natural life of the said Grace Clymer, party of the second part, and her assigns, and upon her death then unto the said Grahame Enthoven, his heirs and assigns forever.

“ The said party of the second part shall have the power to make leases of the said premises for terms not exceeding three years.”

(2) The capital investment, representing the grantor’s partnership interest in the firm of Chambellan, Berger & Welti, certified public accountants, of the then value of $8,500, which was transferred to the said Grace Clymer by a bill of sale dated and acknowledged the 15th of January, 1937.

(3) At about the same time there was transferred to the said Grace Clymer a 1934 Plymouth automobile, $1,500 in. a stock brokerage account with J. W. Gould & Co., and by a bill of sale, dated and acknowledged the 15th of January, 1937, there was transferred to the said Grace Clymer the household furniture, rugs and other personal property located at the dwelling at No. 2 Point Circle, Malba, Long Island.

[689]*689The answer of the defendant Grahame Enthoven denies any knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief with respect to all of the allegations of the complaint, including those alleging the transfer of the real property in remainder to him.

The answers of the defendant Edward J. Enthoven and his present wife, the defendant Grace Clymer Enthoven, consist of general denials and defenses, first, that there was nothing due to the plaintiff at the time of the transfers, and second, that prior to their marriage on February 10, 1937, they entered into an ante-nuptial agreement in writing without intent to defraud creditors, and that after the marriage the properties were duly delivered pursuant thereto. In the answer of the defendant Edward J. Enthoven there is also a counterclaim which alleges the deposit of the $1,200 as security and that at the time of the commencement of the action there was a balance of $780 remaining, which sum is more than sufficient to pay the judgments alleged in the first two causes of action.

The answer of the defendants Chambellan, Berger & Welti consists of a general denial.

In the reply to the counterclaim it is admitted that there was a balance of $780 on hand at the commencement of the action, but the defense of res adjudicata is alleged in that in an action in the Municipal Court, commenced on or about the 10th of May, 1937, the defendant Edward J. Enthoven interposed in his answer there the same facts which he now interposes in his counterclaim with reference to the deposit of $1,200; and that the issues raised by the pleadings were duly adjudicated in favor of the plaintiff in that it was there determined on the merits that the plaintiff was entitled to judgment without first using the collateral security so deposited.

In disposing of the merits of this action, it is necessary to determine whether the plaintiff, by reason of the agreement of October 11, 1921, was a creditor of the grantor, for it appears clear that at the time the ante-nuptial agreement was executed and the transfers made, there were actually no defaults under the terms of the separation agreement.

A creditor is defined by section 270 of the Debtor and Creditor Law as “ a person having any claim, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, absolute, fixed or contingent.”

A debt is defined by said section as including “ any legal liability, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, absolute, fixed or contingent.”

In discussing section 270 et seq. of the Debtor and Creditor Law, Mr. Justice Cardozo stated in American Surety Company v. Conner (251 N. Y. 1, 7) as follows: “ The act is explicit that a [690]*690creditor may now maintain a suit in equity to annul a fraudulent conveyance, though his debt has not matured.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Labow v. Labow
154 A.D.2d 90 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1990)
Shields v. Shields
156 A.D.2d 441 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1989)
Rand v. Rand
138 Misc. 2d 226 (New York Supreme Court, 1987)
Kasinski v. Questel
99 A.D.2d 396 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1984)
Engrassia v. Di Lullo
121 Misc. 2d 667 (New York Supreme Court, 1983)
Leibowits v. Leibowits
93 A.D.2d 535 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1983)
Farino v. Farino
113 Misc. 2d 374 (New York Supreme Court, 1982)
Spear v. Spear
101 Misc. 2d 341 (New York Supreme Court, 1979)
Soldano v. Soldano
66 A.D.2d 839 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1978)
Bennett v. Bennett
62 A.D.2d 1154 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1978)
Murphy v. Murphy
56 Misc. 2d 946 (New York Supreme Court, 1968)
Bowler v. Bowler
46 Misc. 2d 821 (New York Supreme Court, 1965)
Tuitt v. Tuitt
36 Misc. 2d 418 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)
Matthews v. Schusheim
36 Misc. 2d 918 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)
Jagiello v. Jagiello
29 Misc. 2d 584 (New York Supreme Court, 1961)
Eccles v. Hutchinson
28 Misc. 2d 412 (New York Supreme Court, 1961)
Kafalian v. Kafalian
27 Misc. 2d 1065 (New York Supreme Court, 1960)
Leitman v. Leitman
21 Misc. 2d 653 (New York Supreme Court, 1959)
Gager v. Pittsford Development Corp.
6 Misc. 2d 873 (New York Supreme Court, 1957)
Bishop v. Bishop
204 Misc. 128 (New York Supreme Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 Misc. 686, 4 N.Y.S.2d 514, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/enthoven-v-enthoven-nysupct-1938.