Parksley National Bank v. Parks

200 S.E. 629, 172 Va. 169, 1939 Va. LEXIS 228
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJanuary 9, 1939
DocketRecord No. 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 200 S.E. 629 (Parksley National Bank v. Parks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parksley National Bank v. Parks, 200 S.E. 629, 172 Va. 169, 1939 Va. LEXIS 228 (Va. 1939).

Opinion

Spratley, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This suit was instituted by the Parksley National Bank to set aside as fraudulent a deed executed by Preston D. Parks, conveying his real estate in trust to secure a debt of $32,438.96, claimed to be due by him to his wife, Margaret N. Parks. Parks and his wife each filed separate answers to the bill denying all fraud, and averring the bona fides of the transaction.

[173]*173The cause was referred to a commissioner in chancery, who was required, among other things, to ascertain and report whether or not the deed of trust was made upon a consideration deemed valuable in law, or was executed with intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the creditors of the grantor; and what part, if any, of the alleged indebtedness to Mrs. Parks was due and owing to her by her husband.

The commissioner in chancery reported that the deed securing the debt was made upon a consideration deemed valuable in law, and was not executed with intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the creditors of the grantor; and that the entire indebtedness secured was due and owing by Preston D. Parks to his wife.

The Parksley National Bank, hereinafter referred to as the Bank, filed exceptions to the holding of the commissioner in chancery, and further excepted to so much of his report as allowed a credit of $251.45 to Preston D. Parks against the claim of the Bank in addition to a credit of $1,848.43, which latter sum the Bank contends included the $251.45.

The trial court overruled all exceptions, except that as to the credit of $251.45, upon which it did not deem it necessary to pass, and did not pass. It thereupon entered a decree confirming the validity of the deed of trust. From this decree the Bank appeals.

The principal question presented for our consideration is the validity of the deed of trust as it affects the creditors of Preston D. Parks. This question is practically narrowed down to the sole issue whether the monies received by the' husband from his wife were gifts or loans.

The evidence, both oral and documentary, comprising nearly 200 printed pages, exclusive of 42 typewritten pages of copied exhibits, presented before the commissioner in chancery, was exhaustive and voluminous. The material and pertinent facts, omitting a mass of details, may be summarized as follows:

Preston D. Parks, sometimes hereinafter referred to as Dr. Parks, was a practicing physician in the small town of [174]*174Parksley, in Accomac county, from 1915 until 1928. In February, 1928, he and his family, consisting of his wife and three small children, the oldest then being twelve years of age, moved to North Carolina. They returned to Parksley in July of the same year, when he practically abandoned his professional work, and turned to farming. He owned an interest in improved real estate on the main business street of Parksley, owned and conducted a drug store, and owned and operated a farm, hereinafter referred to as Hunting Creek, in the same county, together with other personal property, farm equipment, and a team.

Mrs. Margaret N. Parks, the wife of Dr. Parks, is the daughter of the late R. Volney Nottingham, Sr., of the adjoining county of Northampton. Mr. Nottingham was a man of large means. Prior to his death in 1931, he divided much of his estate among his five children, including Mrs. Parks. In the years, 1926-’27-’28 and ’29, he made several distributions of securities, consisting of stocks and bonds, to each of his' children, and each of these distributions to each child averaged around $20,000. He also gave to Mrs. Parks an interest in a valuable farm in Northampton county, as well as the home which Dr. and Mrs. Parks occupied in Parksley. They were looked upon, and known in their community, as “well-to-do” persons of affluence, means and integrity.

Dr. Parks had been a patron and customer of the Parksley National Bank, both as a borrower and depositor' for a number of years. He was a frequent borrower from this Bank from December, 1928, until December, 1930, when he owed it $10,500. This sum was increased by unpaid interest on his loans and by an item of $150, interest on a loan formerly made to his wife, until his indebtedness to the Bank in 1934, amounted to $11,380. The wife’s note for this loan, upon payment by her, had been cancelled and no demand was made upon her for any interest thereon until this suit was brought. When the' Bank surrendered the note to Mrs. Parks, it added the sum of $150, the interest now claimed, to the indebtedness of Dr. Parks, in-[175]*175eluding it in his note, and thereafter in the judgment against him. The claim of this sum against Mrs. Parks is not referred to in the report of the commissioner in chancery nor in the exceptions filed thereto.

As various loans were secured from the Bank by Dr. Parks, he left with the Bank certain stock certificates, issued in the name of Mrs. Parks, and bonds belonging to her, which he claims were left as collateral for his loans. As these stocks or bonds were sold from time to time, the proceeds therefrom were deposited by Parks in the Bank, and used to curtail or pay his loans therein or for other business purposes. Whenever it was desired to sell a particular stock or bond left with the Bank, another security of equal value would be substituted in its place.

The cashier of the Bank admitted that Parks left certain stock certificates with the Bank, “pinned fast” to his note, when he made some of his loans, but states that, with two exceptions, the certificates were unassigned and were simply held for the convenience of Dr. Parks or his wife. The exceptions referred to are two certificates of stock listed in the name of Mrs. Parks, one for 100 shares of Studebaker Company, common, and one for 100 shares of Anaconda Copper Company, common, which were then and are now held as collateral security for the indebtedness of Dr. Parks.

Both Dr. Parks and Mrs. Parks testified that during the years 1928-29, Mrs. Parks made six loans, three in each year, to her husband, aggregating the principal sum of $32,438.96.

These loans were made to the husband by the delivery to him of certain stocks and bonds, which had been formerly given to her by her father. The market value of these securities, at the time of delivery, determined the amounts of the several loans. The securities so delivered, or at least some of them, were among those used as collateral for loans secured by the husband from the Parksley National Bank. All of them were eventually sold by the husband, or at his direction, through his brokers. The checks for the net [176]*176proceeds of such sales were drawn to the order of Preston-D. Parks, and were deposited by him in the Parksley National Bank, except in one instance where a deposit was made in a bank in North Carolina during his residence there. The proceeds, such as were not used to satisfy loans secured from the Bank, were used by Dr. Parks to purchase the property known as Hunting Creek, upon which he resided and conducted his farming operations, and to make extensive improvements thereon, costing more than $16,-000; to purchase for $5,000, in his own name, an additional interest in the real estate of his late father; and to pay certain other of his obligations and debts in the operation of his business interests.

Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
200 S.E. 629, 172 Va. 169, 1939 Va. LEXIS 228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parksley-national-bank-v-parks-va-1939.