Robertson v. Wade

68 S.W.2d 487, 17 Tenn. App. 457, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 7, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 68 S.W.2d 487 (Robertson v. Wade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robertson v. Wade, 68 S.W.2d 487, 17 Tenn. App. 457, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

CROWNOVER, J.

This was a suit to set aside as fraudulent a mortgage executed by the husband, T. B. Wade, Jr., to his wife, Mrs. Annie White Wade, to secure an indebtedness of $63,977.07.

The original bill in this cause was filed by the receiver of the Citizens’ Bank of Pulaski against T. B. Wade, Jr., and wife, Mrs. Annie White Wade, and others, for the recovery of a decree against T. B. Wade, Jr., on approximately $13,000 of notes due said bank, and to have set aside as fraudulent a trust deed executed by Wade conveying to his wife all of his property, real and personal, to secure to her an indebtedness of $63,977.07, and to have an equitable lien declared in favor of said bank on certain live stock included in said trust deed. The bill further prayed that same be sustained as a general creditors’ bill, for attachment and injunction and the appointment of a receiver.

Mrs. Annie White Wade answered and denied the allegations of the bill, and alleged that she had inherited from her parents an estate of considerable size which she had always held separately and operated as her separate estate; that her husband had never reduced *460 her personal property to his possession or tried to exercise any control over i£; that out of her estate she had loaned money to her husband in an amount in excess of the amount of the note secured by the deed of trust, which amounts he had promised to repay; that said deed of trust was executed to her in good faith for the purpose of securing said indebtedness. She further stated that at the time of the execution of said trust deed she had no knowledge of the fact that her husband had attempted to pledge to the bank certain live stock conveyed to her by said deed of trust.

T. B. Wade, Jr., answered and denied all fraud, and alleged that each and every item secured in the trust deed represented moneys that lie had borrowed from his wife with intention to repay. He admitted his indebtedness to the bank.

It was agreed in writing by the parties that the cause should be heard by the chancellor upon oral testimony adduced in open court in accordance with chapter 119 of the Public Acts of 1917, Code, sec. 10564.

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company filed its answer and cross-bill, praying for a decree against T. B. Wade, Jr., for the amount of its mortgage, $26,000, interest, attorneys’ fees, and expenses, against said land covered by the deed of trust to Mrs. Wade, and for sale of the land to satisfy same.

Said tract of land of 756.63 acres ivas sold under order of the court and bid in by the said insurance company for $30,000, the amount of its debt and cost.

The cattle in the hands of the receiver were sold under orders of the court. After payment of all expenses and commission, there was left in the hands of the receiver $1,941.42, which is the total amount involved in this suit.

The chancellor found and decreed that so much of complainant’s bill as alleged that the deed of trust executed by the defendant T. B. Wade, Jr., for the benefit of Mrs. Annie White Wade, was fraudulent or voluntary, was fully met and denied by the answer and not sustained by the proof, and he thereupon adjudged and decreed that to that extent the bill be dismissed. He found and decreed that no fraud was perpetrated upon the complainant or other creditors by Mrs. Wade either by the execution or the acceptance of said mortgage; that Mrs. Wade had no knowledge or notice that the said T. B. Wade, Jr., had attempted to pledge said live stock in the various notes executed by him,to said bank, and that the lien of her deed of trust was superior to the equitable lien attempted to be created by said notes; that the purpose of said T. B. Wade, Jr., in executing said instrument was to perpetrate a fraud on the bank and to hinder and delay his creditors. He rendered decree for the receiver against T. B. Wade, Jr., for the amount of said notes in favor of the bank, and *461 decreed for other claims filed, and ordered a reference to the master to ascertain and report the amount of damage sustained by Mrs. Annie White Wade on account of the suing out of the injunction in this cause, the issuance and levy of attachment and sale of the live stock by the receiver.

Complainant excepted to that part of the decree sustaining the trust deed to Annie White Wade, and appealed to this court and has assigned errors as follows:

(1) The court erred in failing to hold that all of the personal property belonging to Mrs. Annie White Wade passed, under the common law, to her husband, T. B. Wade, Jr., and that therefore said trust deed which conveyed away all of his propertjr when he was insolvent was voluntary and made without consideration.

(2) The court erred in decreeing that T. B. Wade, Jr., was indebted to Mrs. Annie White Wade in the sum of $63,'977.07.

(3) The court erred in adjudging and decreeing that the fraud perpetrated by T. B. Wade, Jr., was not participated in by Mrs. Annie White Wade, and in not holding that she had knowledge or notice of the pledge of the live stock.

(4) The court erred in failing to adjudge and decree that the bank had an equitable lien on said live stock by reason of the pledge of same to secure said notes, which lien was superior to the rights of Mrs. Annie White Wade.

Mrs. Annie White Wade and T. B. Wade, Jr., were married in 1899. Mrs. Wade’s father, George S. White, died in 1907. Mrs. Wade inherited from his estate $30,000 or $32,000 in cash and notes. Several years later her mother died, and she inherited an estate of considerable value; the total value of her inheritance from her father and mother being $108,000 or $109,000.

In 1908 Mrs. Wade purchased with her inherited funds a farm known as the “Stacy Place,” in Giles county, taking title in her own name. She had this place cultivated on shares, receiving her share of the crop, disposing of it and depositing the proceeds to her own credit in the bank. Some of the crops she sold to her husband, T. B. Wade, Jr.

Mrs. Annie White Wade kept a bank account in her own name in which she deposited all her funds. She executed notes to the bank in her own name and paid them out of her own account.

T. B. Wade, Jr., in 1907 purchased a farm of 756.63 acres in Giles county, known as “Clifton Place,” which became the family home.

Mrs. Wade through the years checked on her own bank account in payment of notes owed by T. B. Wade, Jr., lien notes on Clifton place owed by him, debts of his for operating expenses of the home and farm, general expenses of the family, etc., and made checks direct to *462 him, to the amount-of as much as $50,000, as shown by exhibits in the record. These checks are signed “Annie White Wade,” and show on their faces what they are for, but do not show that they are loans to T. B. Wade, Jr., with the exceptions of five small checks, amounting to $97, issued between December 2, 19.31, and January 14, 1932, which checks show that they were issued for money loaned by Mrs. Wade to T. B. Wade, Jr., and a certain check issued by her to pay certain notes executed by Wade to the bank for which Wade gave her his note for $3,202.19 on November 29, 1911.

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Bluebook (online)
68 S.W.2d 487, 17 Tenn. App. 457, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robertson-v-wade-tennctapp-1933.