Marshall v. Marshall

65 Ky. 415, 2 Bush 415, 1867 Ky. LEXIS 91
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 22, 1867
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 65 Ky. 415 (Marshall v. Marshall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marshall v. Marshall, 65 Ky. 415, 2 Bush 415, 1867 Ky. LEXIS 91 (Ky. Ct. App. 1867).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE PETERS

delivered the opinio» op the court:

This equitable action was instituted on the 11th of April, 1862, by appellees against appellants, to subject three adjoining parcels of land in Green county, to which appellant, Martha A. Marshall, held the legal title, and certain personal estate, to the payment of specified debts, for which appellees allege they were respectively bound as the sureties of appellant, William B. Marshall, and which they feared they would be compelled to pay, as said appellant had no visible estate held in his own right, or not enough to pay said debts; and Beverly Marshall, who was jointly bound with them as his surety, was greatly embarrassed, if not insolvent.

They allege that said W. B. Marshall furnished the money to pay for said parcels of land and some slaves, and fraudulently procured the titles to them to be made to his wife, to protect them from the payment of his debts, and to secure the use and enjoyment thereof to himself.

Marshall and wife filed separate answers, in which they deny all fraud; allege that the property conveyed to Mrs. Marshall was paid for with means which she held in her own right; that no part thereof was furnished by W. B. Marshall; and controvert the right of appellees to the relief sought in the petition.

The debts for which appellees were bound as the surety of W. B. Marshall were different and distinct. Those for which Robert Marshall was bound, as appears from [417]*417a schedule attached to the petition, amounted, in the aggregate, exclusive of interest, to the sum of $4,300 85; and those for which Penick was bound, as appears from a list presented by him, amounted, in the aggregate, exclusive of interest, to the sum of $1,300. Of those for which Marshall was bound, one was to Burr Hazel for $1,000 principal; and of those for which Penick was bound, was one toS. E. Hutcheson for $1,000 principal.

By an amended petition, appellees alleged they had been coerced, by executions, to pay the several debts for which they were bound, and prayed for judgments for the respective amounts thereof, and a sale of the property specified in their original petition to satisfy the same.

On final hearing, the court below rendered judgment in favor of R. Marshall for $584 92£, with interest from the 10th of February, 1863, till paid, and costs — that being the one half of the Burr Hazel debt paid by him as the surety of W. B. Marshall — and adjudged that the other demands set up by him had been paid; and in favor of Penick for $475 47, with interest from the 22d of March, 1864, until paid, and his costs — “ being, as the judgment recites, the one half of the remaining balance on the Sarah Hutcheson claim, which had been paid by said Penick as joint surety with said William for B. Marshall, which sum of $475 47 is found to be due said Penick after deducting the amount paid on said claim by B. Marshall of $269 06;” and his petition, so far as he sought indemnity on account of the debt of $300 to the bank, was dismissed. And it was further adjudged by said court, that the two parcels of land, one called the Bibb tract, and the other being twenty-three acres taken off of B. Marshall’s tract, and both conveyed to Martha A. Marshall by Beverly Marshall and wife, on the 12th of March, [418]*4181859, were purchased by, and paid for with the means oí, William B. Marshall, “in whole or in part, and not the separate means of said Martha A. Marshall,” and should therefore be subjected to the payment of said sums adjudged to appellees, and ordered a sale of thirteen sheep, a clock, the half of a gray colt, a piano-forte, and so much of said land as should be required to pay the same. Which judgment Marshall and wife seek by this appeal to reverse.

In the fall of 1855 appellant, W. B. Marshall, drove a lot of stock to the southern market, the cost of which is not shown, nor the number; but from the facts in the record, we are authorized to infer that he bought the stock on credit. Before his return he purchased another lot of one Sinclair, at the price of two thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars, on a credit of ninety days, and gave’ his draft on H. M. Robinson, in New Orleans, for the price, which was protested for non-payment. It is alleged in the petition that he realized large profits on each of said lots of stock. In his answer he denies that he made large profits; but he virtually admits that some profits were realized; the amounts, ho;wever, he does not state, nor are they otherwise shown.

Nor does it appear that he applied the money for which he sold said stock, or any part of it, to the payment of his debts, which were numerous and for large amounts.

On the 11th of April, 1856, he conveyed — what he declared in the deed to be all — his property, except such as was by law exempt from execution, consisting of lands, slaves, stock, farming utensils, and furniture, to appellee, Robert Marshall, in trust, to be sold, and the proceeds to be applied to the payment of debts which he owed, and for which his father, Beverly Marshall, and his father-in-law, S. W. Robinson, were bound as his sureties. The trust was accepted by said R. Marshall, and [419]*419we must presume that he executed it faithfully and satisfactorily to the parties interested, as we hear no complaints against him on that account. The property thus conveyed was insufficient to pay the debts enumerated in the deed.

Appellants, on the 6th of September, 1856, united in a deed making A. Barnett, Esq., trustee for Mrs. Marshall, and conveyed to him in trust for her separate use money and notes, amounting then to nine hundred and thirty-five dollars; and provided that such other sums of. money as said Martha might thereafter become the owner of, in her own right, might be placed in said trustee’s hands to be held upon the same trusts and for like purposes as the nine hundred and thirty-five dollars then on hand were to be held.

On the 5th of November, 1857, Henry Bibb and wife conveyed to Beverly Marshall the tract called the Bibb place, containing about one hundred and twenty-five acres, in consideration of eleven hundred and twenty-five dollars in hand paid; and on the- 12th of March, 1859, Beverly Marshall and wife conveyed the Bibb tract, with a smaller tract adjoining thereto, containing about twenty-three acres, to. appellant, Martha A. Marshall, for the consideration, as recited in the deed, of fifteen hundred and eighty-five dollars in cash notes, drawn from the hands of A. Barnett, her trustee, and cash received from her, making up the whole consideration, the receipt of which is acknowledged by the grantors. And on the 2d of November, 1860, appellee Penick, and wife, in consideration of six hundred and eighty-five dollars cash in hand paid, conveyed to Mrs. M. A. Marshall the third tract, containing thirty-four and one quarter acres, with covenant of general warranty.

The evidence conduces strongly to the conclusion that Mrs. Marshall had acquired the money and notes placed [420]*420in the hands of A. Barnett in the manner stated in the deed, and independent of her husband.

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65 Ky. 415, 2 Bush 415, 1867 Ky. LEXIS 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marshall-v-marshall-kyctapp-1867.