14 A.2d 74 | Pa. | 1940
Plaintiffs are creditors of John C. Jack, now deceased, because of their having incurred considerable liability as sureties on various of his bonds as tax collector of Colerain Township. They instituted this suit in equity to set aside as fraudulent the conveyance of a farm made by Jack, through an intermediary without consideration, to himself and his wife as tenants by the entirety. After the taking of testimony on the amended bill and answer, the chancellor directed that the conveyance be set aside. Exceptions filed by the defendants were dismissed after argument, and, the decree having been made final, this appeal followed.
On December 12, 1934, when the conveyance in question was made, Jack was liable on his duplicates to the county, township and school district, for which he was tax collector, for taxes for the year 1934, which then remained unpaid and unexonerated, in the sum of $6,338.58. In addition to the farm of the estimated maximum *168
value of $6,000, according to defendants' own testimony, he was also possessed of personal property worth $2,500, together with the warrants authorizing him to collect such taxes. It is well settled that a tax collector is liable for the whole amount of the tax duplicate received by him, unless paid or exonerated(Commonwealth, to use, v. Stambaugh,
Section 4 of the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act of May 21, 1921, P. L. 1045, provides: "Every conveyance made and every obligation incurred by a person who is or will be thereby rendered insolvent, is fraudulent as to creditors, without regard to his actual intent, if the conveyance is made or the obligation incurred without a fair consideration." Thus, under the circumstances of the instant case, it was incumbent upon defendants to prove solvency: Farmers Trust Company v. Bevis,
To establish solvency, defendants contend that the warrants, accompanying the duplicates, authorizing Jack to collect the 1934 taxes were assets of sufficient value, together with his personal property, to meet his liabilities on the 1934 tax duplicates. No evidence, however, was offered as to the value of the warrants at the time the conveyance was made, except the fact that a portion of the 1934 taxes were paid a year or more subsequent to the transfer of the real estate involved. This in no way established the value of the warrants as of December 12, 1934, and, therefore, defendants did not meet the burden which the law cast upon them, and the chancellor correctly did not consider the warrants in determining the insolvency of Jack.
Furthermore, the pleadings warranted and the testimony established beyond a doubt that the conveyance *169
was fraudulent as to creditors under section 7 of the Act, which provides as follows: "Every conveyance made . . . with actual intent, as distinguished from intent presumed in law, to hinder, delay, or defraud either present or future creditors, is fraudulent as to both present and future creditors." InIscovitz v. Filderman,
Decree affirmed. *170