142 Ky. 10 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1911
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
This appeal involves the right of the appellant Pence, who was plaintiff in the lower court, to set aside as fraudulent a conveyance made by W. S. Shackelford to his son, J. K. Shackelford, and have the land described in this conveyance subjected to the satisfaction of a debt which plaintiff held against W. S. Shackelford.
The decided weight of the testimony is to the effect that J. K. Shackelford, at the time -stated, to-wit, November 1904, had paid to his father the $200 which is stipulated as cash paid in the title bond. This money had been, paid in various ways, part cash, part in the purchase price of a horse, and part merchandise. He permitted his father to receive the rent from the farm for the year 1905. He paid off the Combs debt. There remained the $150 mortgage lien upon the land, and G-eorge W. Johnson held a life interest in it.
The testimony as to the value of the land varies from $300 to $1,000. This wide discrepancy in the opinions of the witnesses in valuing the land, is due, perhaps, to the fact that they were unable to state with any degree of accuracy the number of acres in controversy, some putting it as low as 100 to 120 acres, and others as high as 150 acres. The weight of the evidence is to the effect that the land was worth from $500 to $600, and the fee, subject to the life estate of Johnson, was worth not more than the appellee, J. K. Shackelford, paid for it.'
While transactions between father and son, because' of their close confidential relation, are always looked upon with more or less suspicion, and should be closely scrutinized, still, where the evidence justifies it, a transaction between them will be given the same faith and credit as one between others not occupying this relation. We have reached the conclusion, upon a careful examination of the record, that the consideration stated in this bond was paid by J. K. Shackelford to his father; and we
The only question is, was the conveyance made in violation of section 2906 of the Kentucky Statutes, that is, with the fraudulent intent to cheat, hinder, or delay the creditors of W. S. Shackelford in the collection of their debts. If it was, and this fact was known to the purchaser, J. ■ K. Shackelford, then the land must be subjected to the payment of this debt. It is shown by satisfactory proof that the $100 note had been paid off and satisfied, though it was not delivered to W. S. Shackelford in the lifetime of Puckett, who held it. While W. S. Shackelford insists that the $100 note was paid, and the proof fairly supports him in this contention, he admits that only $100 has been paid on the $500 note. Hence, at the date upon which this conveyance was made, this balance on the $500 debt was an existing demand against him, and if. the conveyance to his son was made to defeat its collection, and the son. knew of this fact, the transaction must be treated as fraudulent.
It appears that W. S. Shackelford, before suit was brought, was approached by a representative of the plaintiff with a view to settling these claims, an.d at that time he stated that he' did not own the land and had not for about a year. It is not made to appear that at the time this sale under the title bond was made to his son, he even contemplated being harrassed or annoyed by this debt which his uncle’s estate held against him. There is no evidence to show that either he or his son, when they entered into this transaction, were aiming to defeat the collection of this debt. On the contrary, they each state that the sale was made to the son because the father was unable to pay for the land and did not want to lose the money which he had put into it. There is nothing in appellant’s conduct that can be characterized as unfair or lending color to the charge that he was acting with his father in an effort to defeat the collection of this debt. We are strengthened in this conclusion, that the transaction was not fraudulent, by the recitals in the title bond itself, for evidently, if they had been conspiring to perpetrate a fraud in the transfer of this land, they would not have set out minutely in the title bond, which they placed of record, the details of the transaction. Nor would they have waited until suit was brought, or until about that time, to procure the deed for the land to be made from Jane Combs to J. K. Shackelford. All
Judgment affirmed.