255 F. 48 | 7th Cir. | 1918
The question raised on this appeal is a very .narrow one. What rights, if any, has a trustee in bankruptcy in and to the' equity of a bankrupt in an Illinois homestead estate, concededly
Title to the property in question stood in the bankrupt at the date of the filing of the petition. Subsequently he and his wife conveyed the property to the mortgagee, and some months later they again conveyed it to the trustee in bankruptcy.
No question arises here as to the jurisdiction of a court of bankruptcy to determine whether or not the equity equaled or exceeded $1,000. When it was expressly determined that, as stated in the schedules and as found by the appraisers, the value of the equity was less than $1,000, the court should have decreed that the trustee had no interest therein by virtue of the bankruptcy proceedings; and inasmuch as the conveyance by the bankrupt and his wife vested title in appellant, the mortgagee, the later conveyance to the trustee was ineffective for any purpose whatsoever.
This case is totally unlike the cases cited by appellee, involving claims of homestead rights as distinguished from homestead estates, or claims
The petition of the trustee for the sale of the real estate, subject only to the lien of the mortgage incumbrances, should have been denied, and the petition of appellant to set aside the order of sale of the equity should have been granted.
The order of the District Court, affirming the orders of the referee for the sale of the equity, and dismissing appellant’s petition to set this order aside, will therefore be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Note. — Judge KOHLSAAT concurred in these conclusions, but died before the opinion was prepared.