42 Iowa 567 | Iowa | 1876
On the 21st of February, 1870, Owen Eooney deeded to each of his sons, Janies and Owen, Jr., eighty acres of land, for the expressed consideration of $500 in each deed. The land conveyed was all that Owen Eooney, Sr., owned. An agreed statement of facts submitted by the parties states that Owen Eooney, Sr., was to perform his contract of purchase on the 21st of April, 1870, but this is evidently a mistake in the abstract, for suit was commenced against him on the 14th of April, 1870, for his default. It is probable that the contract was to be j)erforined on the 1st of April; it is certain that it was to be performed before the 14tln The garnishées admit that the land was worth forty dollars an acre when it was conveyed to' them ovter and above any part of it that might be exempt from execution by law; and that, on the 25th of January, 1873, they sold it for forty-five dollars an acre.
Appellants’ counsel undertake to show that the conveyance was but a reasonable remuneration for the work performed and the obligation assumed by the garnishees. From this argument we quote the following: ‘‘We have agreed that the 80 acres given each boy were worth $3,200; in payment for this he worked on and managed the farm for six years and a half to pay all the bills of their two brothers who'were off at school, and supported their parents during this time. The fair value of the services of an ordinary workman, to say nothing of a manager, during and for several year’s after the war, was as high as $300 per year, as every person knows. The contract was made in 1864. Allowing $300 a year for the years 1864-5-6-7, and $250 for the other two and a half years before the deed was made, and we have $1,825, which with interest from the years it was earned until payment makes $2,367.50. This, however, was the least part of the consideration, for they both swear they were to support both their parents during life. Who can say how great an amount they might have to pay under this obligation?” This estimate is very liberal in many respects. Of course, if the garnishees paid the schooling bills of their brothers, and supported their father and mother, they did it from the proceeds of the farm and they are to be allowed only for their work. There is no proof that they assumed or were intrusted with the management of the .business. Again, they themselves were supported from the farm, of which no account has been taken. Further, in the foregoing estimate they are allowed pay for all of the year 1864, in which the agreement was made, and for half of the year 1870, whereas the deed to them was made on the 21st day of February of that year. Besides, the interest is
II. Appellants claim, however, that at the time of the conveyance to them Owen Booney, Sr., had §1,400 out on mortgage, and owed nothing except upon the obligation which he assumed to Cussick and that the conveyance, even if voluntary, cannot be regarded as fraudulent. We do not understand the evidence to show that Owen Booney had this amount out on mortgage at the time of the conveyance. One of the garnishees stales that his father had §1400 loaned on mortgage on the 1st of October, 1869. And the other states that “father had §1,400 at the time we received the deeds from him, and for some time after.” That it was in a position to be reached by execution does not appear. He had no property when the answers of 'the garnishees were taken.
Affirmed.