158 Ga. 760 | Ga. | 1924
A married woman “cannot bind her separate estate by anjr contract of suretyship.” Civil Code (1910), § 3007. Not can she make a “contract of sale . . as to her separate estate with her husband, . . unless the same is allowed by order of the superior court of the county of her domicile.” § 3009. But she can “give property to her husband,” though “the evidence to support it must be clear and unequivocal, and the intention of the parties must be free from doubt.” § 3010. In National Bank of Athens v. Carlton, 96 Ga. 469 (23 S. E. 388), it was held: “If a married woman conveyed land to her son for the purpose of enabling him to pledge it to a third person as security for a debt due, or to become due, to that person by the son, and this was a mere colorable transaction growing out of a scheme suggested by the creditor in order to make her in fact a surety for the son’s debt, although she did not become nominally bound therefor, the
On its face the deed is expressly a deed of gift, without any reservation or suggestion that its purpose was to enable the donee to secure his debt or that the property was to be returned to the donor after the debt was paid. The extraneous evidence tended to show that the purpose of 'the wife was to enable her husband to secure his existing debt and a loan of additional money. This much was within her power, notwithstanding the creditor was present and participated in the conversations with the wife leading up to execution of the deed. But this is not all. There was also extraneous evidence to the effect that the creditor stated to the wife that the husband “owed him a little money, and . . wanted to borrow a little more,” and asked the wife whether, if he (the creditor) “should lend him the money,” the wife would “make the deed over to” the husband. The wife replied that “she did not know just at that time; she would have to think the matter
Judgment reversed.