104 Wash. 589 | Wash. | 1919
The appellants, composing the two partnership firms of M. & K. Grottstein and Kreielsheimer Brothers, were judgment creditors of the respondent John A. Ward to the extent of $2,166.55.
The record shows that the appellants, M. & K. Gottstéin, and Kreielsheimer Brothers, were wholesale liquor dealers, with whom Mr. Ward had dealt for a number of years in purchasing liquors for a saloon conducted by him in Georgetown, the dealings between the parties being represented by open accounts
While the evidence as to the value of the home property varied somewhat widely, we are satisfied that the property at a forced sale would have failed to realize more than the indebtedness thereon, and that, at the time the deed to the daughter was executed, Ward was
The question then is, was the daughter such a creditor as to render valid a preference to her over other creditors. On this phase of the case, the only testimony is by the daughter, the father not having testified on the particular question. Her testimony is positive and is uncontradicted, except it may be inferentially. Her demeanor as a witness, however, was unsatisfactory in some particulars, owing to her refusal to answer questions, apparently under an apprehension that she might be led thereby into damaging admissions. The purport of her testimony was that she abandoned the study of art, which she had planned to pursue, and took up household service at the insistence of her father, for which she was to be compensated at the rate of $25 per month; that an agreement therefor was entered into with her father when she was eighteen, and thus of legal age to contract; that she had never been paid, but had been given her board and clothing and supplied with spending money by her mother; that, at the time of the conveyance to her, she had served for a period of five years, entitling her to $1,500; that, upon her demand for her remuneration, her father turned over to her the property in question, which she admitted was worth $700 more than her claim; that her mother was an invalid, and the employment of a housekeeper would have been necessary if she had declined to serve in that capacity. On the other side, it appears that the father conducted the negotiations by which the mortgage of $600 was placed on the property, and that he banked the money in his own name and seems to have had the handling of it, although the daughter testifies that the money was obtained for her benefit, and a portion, of
It seems to us that the transaction has many of the badges of fraud. The debtor, while in failing circumstances and pressed by his creditors, transferred to his daughter his only available resources, and still continued to exercise dominion over the property following its transfer. The transfer was made for an alleged past consideration of a promise to pay $25 per month, upon which not a single monthly payment had been made in a period of five years. The value of the property transferred was considerably in excess of the alleged claim of the daughter; and, more than this, the proof of the contract indebtedness fell far short of being satisfactory and convincing. While it is true that a failing debtor is privileged to prefer a member of his family to the exclusion of other creditors, it can be sustained only in case of satisfactory proof of good faith and upon a bona fide indebtedness to such member. And it is the prevailing rule in this country that the relationship of parent and child is a circumstance which requires a conveyance by an insolvent parent to his child to be subjected to the closest scrutiny. Taking into consideration all the facts shown in the record, we are satisfied that a presumption of fraud is clearly presented by the evidence, and that it has not been satisfactorily overcome by the countervailing evidence. Moreover, the consideration is based upon an alleged promise to pay for the natural services of the daughter as a member of the
The judgment of the trial court is reversed, with instructions to subject the property to the liens of the respondent’s judgments, subject to the several mortgages thereon.