183 Iowa 148 | Iowa | 1917
The plaintiff, as the trustee of the bankrupt estate of Patrick J. Giblin, brings this suit in equity to subject to the payment of the debts of such estate a certain forty-acre tract of land, title to which is held by the bankrupt’s wife,' Ella M. Giblin. Cases of this type are of very frequent appearance in the courts, and the law governing them is well settled. As a rule, these actions turn largely, if not entirely, upon certain controverted matters of fact; and in this respect, the case before us furnishes no exception. It sufficiently appears that, in the year 1912, or 1913, Patrick J. Giblin and his brother, Mike Giblin, held some share or equity in certain property belonging to the estate of their deceased father. At the same time, Mike Giblin held a contract for the purchase of a forty-acre tract of land from one George Moore. The land was encumbered by mortgage, and Mike had made only a small initial payment on the contract. Patrick and Mike agreed upon an exchange, by which Mike took over his brother’s interest in the estate property and transferred his contract with Moore to Ella M. Giblin, Patrick’s wife. Later, Moore conveyed the title to her. In 1915, Patrick went into bankruptcy, and the plaintiff herein became the trustee of the estate. It is the theory of plaintiff that the taking of the title to the forty acres in the name of Ella M. Giblin was in the nature of a voluntary conveyance in fraud of creditors, and that the land is equitably subject to the payment of the claims of her husband’s creditors. This is denied by the defendants. On trial to the court, it was found that the alleged fraud had