179 Ky. 48 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1918
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
On the 26tli day of December, 1914, H. M. Crane conveyed to his mother, Lucy J. Griggs, a dwelling house and a store house and the lot upon which they were situated. The consideration for the conveyance, as expressed in the deed, was “the love and affection of the grantor for the grantee and in order to provide for her a home as long as she may live; one dollar in hand paid, and other valuable considerations. ’ ’ Thereafter, on the 28th day of June, 1915, H. M. Crane filed a petition in the Federal court for the district of Indiana, in which he sought h discharge in bankruptcy from his debts. He was accordingly declared a bankrupt and a trustee appointed, who took charge of and sold all of his property, which brought the sum of $1,336,00. .The debts proven in the bankruptcy proceeding, up to the time that the referee testified in this case, amounted to $2,350.64. After the trustee had realized the $1,336.00 from a sale of the bankrupt’s property, and had paid out of that sum $125.00 to the bankrupt on his claim for exemption, and $1,174.00 in satisfaction of a mortgage, which was given and held by other parties upon the property of the bankrupt before he became the owner of it, there was left in the hands of the trustee $36.02, which could bo appropriated to the payment of the $2,350.64 indebtedness of the bankrupt.
This suit was instituted in the Henderson circuit court by the trustee against Crane and Lucy J. Griggs, Msí
The circuit court adjudged that the deed was fraudulent and ordered that it be set aside, and the property sold for the payment of its proceeds to the trustee, to be applied in satisfaction of the appellant, Crane’s debts, and from this judgment an appeal has been taken by the appellants, Crane and Griggs.
It is further insisted that the judgment is erroneous, because the evidence failed to prove that the deed was made with intention on the part of the grantor to defraud his creditors, or that it was without any valuable consideration to support it. It is true, the general rule is, that in actions to secure the appropriation of property, the title to which appears to be in another, to the satisfaction of the debts of a debtor, upon the ground that the property is in reality that of the debtor, but is being fraudulently held by another to prevent its subjection to the debts of the real owner, the burden is upon the one alleging the fraud to show that the property is owned by the debtor and has been fraudulently transferred to the other. National Roofing Materials Co. v. Smith, 165 Ky. 848; Guthrie v. Hill, 138 Ky. 181; Roby v. Jamison, 143 Ky. 486; Cogar v. National Bank, etc., supra; Aultman &
In the instant case, the property was not owned or claimed by appellant, Griggs, until it was transferred to her. The grantor was her son and had just a few days before the making of the deed been sued by parties, who sought to recover of him the sum of $1,850.00, and did thereafter recover a judgment for that sum, and the grantor then applied for a discharge in bankruptcy from the payment of his debts; eight months after the making of the deed the assets of the grantor, which could be applied to the satisfaction of his debts, amounted to only
The judgment is therefore affirmed.