Flynn v. Baisley

45 L.R.A. 645, 57 P. 908, 35 Or. 268, 1899 Ore. LEXIS 217
Oregon Supreme Court·Decided July 10, 1899·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moobe

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit to set aside a deed, and to subject a part of the real property described therein to the lien of a judgment against the grantor. It is alleged in the complaint that on July 1, 1898, the defendant S. B. Baisley executed to the Baker City National Bank his promissory note for the sum of $3,588, payable six months after date, with interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum; that plaintiff thereafter became the owner thereof, and on March 6, 1898, recovered judgment thereon, upon which an execution was issued, and returned wholly unsatisfied; that at the timé said note was executed Baisley was the owner in fee of the south i of the southeast i and the southeast i of the southwest i of section 15, in township 7 south, of range 38 east of the Willamette Meridian ; the west i of the southeast i of section 25, the south of section 26, the east i and the northwest i of section 35, in township 8 south, of range 39 east of said meridian, in Baker County, — containing one thousand acres, more or less; that on December 1, 1894, Baisley and wife, for the expressed consideration of $6,000, executed' to their sons, Perry A. and J. H. Baisley, a general warranty deed of said property ; that no consideration was paid for the conveyance; that it was executed with intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the creditors of S. B. Baisley; that the premises therein described were then of the reasonable value of $10,000 ; and that Baisley had no other property out of which plaintiff’s judgment, or any part thereof, can be satisfied. The answer denies the material allegations of the complaint, and avers that S. B. Baisley, on December 1, 1894, was indebted to Perry A. and J. H. Baisley in the sums of $500 and $125, respectively, in consideration of which, and of their payment of the sum of $25, [270] and agreement to discharge the principal of two mortgages to secure the sums of $3,350 and $2,000, executed to them a deed of the north i of lot 3 and the south 30 feet of lot 4 in block 4 in the United States townsite of Baker City, the east i of section 35, in township 8 south of range'39 east, and an undivided one-tenth in fee and a dower interest in the other property described in the complaint, for which he received an adequate consideration. The reply having put in issue the allegations of new matter in the answer, a trial was had, resulting in a decree dismissing the suit, and plaintiff appeals.

It is contended by plaintiff’s counsel that the evidence shows that the conveyance was voluntary, and that, Baisley being indebted to plaintiff’s assignbr at the time it was executed, the ccurt erred in dismissing the suit. The evidence shews that on December 1, 1894, said lots in Baker City, together with a building thereon, known as “Meier’s Hotel,” were incumbered with a mortgage executed by Baisley and wife to the Baker City National Bank, to secure the sum of $3,350 ; that the east i of section 35 in township 8 south of range 39 east, was subject to a mortgage executed by them to the Lombard Investment Company, to secure the sum of $2,000, and that such incumbrance on the hotel property was also a second lien thereon, but that the undivided one-tenth of the other tracts, equivalent to sixty-eight acres, was unincumbered; that the grantees in said deed sold the lots in Baker City some time in 1896, for the sum of $3,000, in consideration of which, and the further sum of $50, said bank entered satisfaction in full of its mortgage, thereby relinquishing the sum of $757.58, and releasing the east of said section 35 from the lien thereof; that they paid the interest and $300 of the principal due upon said Lombard Investment Company’s mortgage, and secured an extension of two years for the payment of the remainder; that [271] when said, deed was executed to them they were aged twenty-one and nineteen years, respectively ; that Perry, being permitted by his father to labor on his own account during the latter years of his minority, and to retain his earnings, operated a boarding house at the gold mines in said county, and was thereafter employed as a bookkeeper in the Baker City National Bank, whereby he accumulated the sum of $500, which he loaned to his father prior to the execution of the deed; that J. H. Baisley labored under the same privileges and conditions as his brother, and earned $125 during his minority, which he loaned to his father, and which the latter owed him at the time the deed was executed. It is argued by plaintiff’s counsel that this money belonged to the father, and. that his being indebted at that time constituted it a trust fund for the benefit of his creditors, and, this being so, the conveyance, as to that part of the consideration, was voluntary. This must depend upon whether Baisley had in good faith emancipated his sons before they earned the money.

1. A conveyance of lands without a valuable consideration, by one who is indebted at the time, is presumptively a fraud upon his creditors, who have an equitable right to set it aside or to avoid it, at least to the extent of the debts due them : Elfelt v. Hinch, 5 Or. 255 ; Davis v. Davis, 20 Or. 78 (25 Pac. 140); Sterry v. Arden, 1 Johns. Ch. 261.

It being the duty of an infant to labor for his parent in consideration of the latter’s furnishing him maintenance and education, it has been held that a deed of land executed by an insolvent parent to his infant child in consideration of services rendered or to be rendered during his minority is voluntary, and void as to creditors of the grantor: Swartz v. Hazlett, 8 Cal. 118; Stumbaugh v. Anderson, 46 Kan. 541 (26 Pac. 1045) . A [272] father, who was insolvent, having made a deed to his minor son in consideration of wages earned and a note executed by him, it was held that the conveyance was voluntary, and void as to the grantor’s creditors : Winchester v. Reid, 53 N. C. (8 Jones, Law), 377. In Bell v. Hallenback, Wright (Ohio), 752, it is held that if a father, who at the time is indebted, invests the earnings of the minor children in real estate, and takes the title in their names, the premises will be charged with the' debts he then owed. In Jolly v. Kyle, 27 Or. 95 (39 Pac. 999), it is said: “Conveyances from one relative to another, when attacked by the creditors of the grantor, will always be closely scrutinized, for, from the very relation of the parties, it is scarcely to be supposed that the circumstances and intention of the grantor were not known to the grantee.” To the same effect see, also, Burt v. Timmons, 29 W. Va. 441 (2 S. E. 780); Shober v. Wheeler, 113 N. C. 370 (18 S. E. 328).

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Flynn v. Baisley, 45 L.R.A. 645, 57 P. 908, 35 Or. 268, 1899 Ore. LEXIS 217 (Or. 1899).

45 L.R.A. 645 (Flynn v. Baisley) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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