Kuhlbarsch v. Sauter

170 Misc. 955, 10 N.Y.S.2d 996, 1939 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1672
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 170 Misc. 955 (Kuhlbarsch v. Sauter) 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
Kuhlbarsch v. Sauter, 170 Misc. 955, 10 N.Y.S.2d 996, 1939 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1672 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1939).

Opinion

Maloney, J.

This is a creditor’s action to set aside a fraudulent conveyance made by Paul Kuhlbarsch, deceased, an insolvent debtor, to defendant. The plaintiff is the wife of the grantor; the defendant, his daughter. In the month of September, 1935, plaintiff’s husband arbitrarily evicted her from their home and attempted [956]*956to kill her with a knife, and threatened to kill her if she returned to their home.

In November and December, 1935, demands were made to the husband in behalf of plaintiff for support and maintenance. Such demands were refused by him. Plaintiff was obliged to obtain employment as a maid earning three dollars per week in addition to room and board.

The husband’s total assets as of April, 1937, consisted of two dwellings of a market value of $9,000 in addition to a bank account in the amount of approximately $300. During the month of April he conveyed the title to the aforementioned dwellings to the defendant herein. By reason of said conveyance the husband was rendered insolvent, he then being indebted to his wife in an amount, as I have found to be, greatly exceeding his assets. He died June 12, 1937.

Plaintiff’s husband failed to provide for her from September 12, 1935, up to the time of his death. Therefore, the plaintiff had, in April, 1937, an unliquidated claim against her husband for moneys expended by her for necessities and the reasonable value of the board and lodging furnished her in payment for services rendered as such maid.

Defendant’s answer denies the material allegations of plaintiff’s complaint except the making of the conveyance, and alleges six separate affirmative defenses.

A married woman abandoned by her husband has a cause of action against him to recover money expended to provide necessaries for herself even though the money so used was the outcome of the wife’s own labor. In DeBrauwere v. DeBrauwere (203 N. Y. 460, at p. 463) Judge Bartlett wrote: In the present case, however, the money used for procuring the necessaries was chiefly the outcome of the wife’s own labors, and the question is whether she can maintain an action against the husband to recover it. Clearly no such action was maintainable at common law. At common law the personal property of the wife and all her earnings belonged to the husband. In this State, however, her marital disabilities have been wholly removed by statute, and the law now presumes that a married woman is alone entitled to any wages, earnings or any other remuneration for services which she renders. Such compensation constitutes a part of her separate estate and she can maintain any action in reference thereto which she could maintain if she were unmarried.” (See, also, Decker v. Decker, 108 N. Y. 128.)

In the instant case plaintiff received her board and room in part payment for and as a result of her own labor. I see no distinction [957]*957between the legal rights of plaintiff herein and that of the plaintiff in the DeBrauwere case (supra). In the latter the wife recovered for moneys expended by her for necessities. The money so used was earned as a result of her own labor. In the instant case board and lodging furnished plaintiff was compensation procured as a result of plaintiff’s own labor, the reasonable value thereof being uncontradicted.

The wife was not obliged to resort to the court for support pending the action; to do so was discretionary with her. If she did not apply, the husband’s common-law liability to provide her with the necessaries of life according to his station would still continue.” (Elder v. Rosenwasser, 238 N. Y. 427, 431.) (See, also, Dravecka v. Richard, 267 N. Y. 180, 183; Turner v. Woolworth, 221 id. 425.)

In the case of Laumeier v. Laumeier (237 N. Y. 357), after citing with approval the DeBrauwere case (supra), at page 365 the court stated: “ And we there held that the common-law disability of the wife to sue the husband having been removed, a wife who has applied her separate estate to the purpose of an obligation resting primarily upon her husband may now recover from him the reasonable amounts which she has thus expended out of her separate estate in discharge of his obligation.” (See, also, Brown v. Brown, 266 N. Y. 532.)

The evidence is to the effect that defendant was not aware of the conveyance made to her by the deceased until its recordation and delivery to her by mail. Under all of the circumstances the conveyance was, in my opinion, fraudulent. The law indulges in the presumption that it was fraudulent as against the existing creditors. Thus in Smith v. Reid (134 N. Y. 568, at p. 575) the rule is stated:

But the rule is well settled that a voluntary conveyance by one indebted' at the time is presumptively fraudulent. (Seward v. Jackson, 8 Cow. 406; Erickson v. Quinn, 47 N. Y. 410; Dunlap v. Hawkins, 59 id. 346; Cole v. Tyler, 65 id. 78.)

“ There was no evidence introduced by the defendant upon this question, and we are of the opinion that the facts stated raised a presumption that the deeds were executed by Taylor with intent to defraud his creditors, and in the absence of any explanation thereof it was the duty of the court to have determined the fact of the grantee’s intention in accordance with such presumption. (Coleman v. Burr, 93 N. Y. 17-31.)

“ Having established the fact of the fraudulent character of the conveyances from Taylor to his wife, the plaintiff was entitled to a judgment adjudging the defendant’s deed to be a cloud upon his title and illegal and void.”

[958]*958See Kerker v. Levy (206 N. Y. 109) and" Ga Nun v. Palmer (216 id. 603), in which latter case, Justice Cardozo (at p. 610) stated: “ We hold, therefore, that the plaintiff has established her position as a creditor, and is entitled to maintain this action.”

And at page 611 the court stated: The burden was on the plaintiff to show that- at the time when they were made they left the grantor insolvent. It is here that the learned Appellate Division, in our judgment, has misconceived the law. The rule is that"'a transfer without consideration by one who is then a debtor raises a presumption of fraud. The creditor may stand upon that presumption until it is repelled.”

In Sabatino v. Cannizzaro (243 App. Div. 20, on p. 22) the court said:

“ The law appears to be well settled that where a plaintiff cannot show an actual fraudulent intent on the part of the defendants, he establishes a prima facie case merely by proof of two facts, namely, that a voluntary conveyance was made without any consideration and that when made the grantor-debtor was indebted to the plaintiff. The proof here went far beyond such requirements. * * *
“ In Brody v. Pecoraro (250 N. Y. 56) the Court of Appeals recently restated the rule to be applied in such cases as follows: ‘ If the grantor made the conveyance with fraudulent intent, the burden was on the grantee to show that he had accepted it for value, in which event the plaintiffs might have had to prove that he had notice of the fraud.’
“In Lawrence Brothers, Inc., v. Heylman (111 App.

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

Related

Soldano v. Soldano
66 A.D.2d 839 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1978)
Kuhlbarsch v. Sauter
257 A.D. 1038 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
170 Misc. 955, 10 N.Y.S.2d 996, 1939 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuhlbarsch-v-sauter-nysupct-1939.