1 Keyes 588 | NY | 1864
J. The general exception in the case, if it raises any legal question to be reviewed here* is the single one, whether .the plaintiff’s judgment against Mrs. Eames is a debt, within the. -provisions of the trust deed, which the defendant Kirkland is bound to pay in the execution of the trust. Points, it is true, are now made that the deed is fraudulent and void as to the plaintiff’s creditors of Mrs. Eames, and that in any. view it was error to dismiss the complaint, as she had a valuable equitable -interest in what remained -of the -trust property which the. -plaintiffs were entitled to; but in-the complaint there was no allegation or pretense that the trust deed was for any reason fraudulent' or invalid, or that Mrs. Eames had any interest in the trust property applicable to the payment of the plaintiff’s debt, nor were there any facts found, or legal conclusions of the court, to which exception -was taken, .bringing up either point for review. -The plaintiffs treat the trust deed as valid in their complaint, -not seeking to impeach it, but claiming the benefit of it, as creditors' of Mrs. Eames, within the scope of the trust; and the judgment demanded is that the trustee pay the plaintiffs’ debt out of any trust funds in his hands, or transfer sufficient of the property to pay it. Instead of alleging, in the complaint that the trust deed was void as to them, or intended to.defraud creditors, the plaintiffs claimed a beneficial interest under it, and the pleading was not framed to reach' any. equitable interest of Mrs. Eames, if she had any, but to obtain payment of their debt from the funds . or estate remaining in-the -hands of .the trustee, on the ground that it was provided for in the deed.
In Barley v. Rider, a judgment creditor sought to have certain lands applied in payment of his demand, on the ground that the purchase of them was in trust for the benefit of Rider, the judgment creditor. The answer asserted, and the evidence showed, that the purchase and investment made was not for the benefit of Rider, but for his children. The complaint had gone solely upon the ground that the judgment debtor was the equitable owner of the lands, they having been purchased by his direction and with his money, and the title taken and held for his use and benefit by two other defendants. This being disproved, and the trust shown, being not for the judgment debtor but for his children, the plaintiff attempted to shift his claim for relief,
Looking, therefore, at the matters charged, the issues raised • and tried, the facts found, the legal conclusions of the judge,
' and the exceptions to such conclusions, as has been stated, the only point for our consideration is whether the debt of the plaintiff was within the provisions of the deed of trust, which, in the performance of his duty, the defendant Kirkland was bound to pay. If it was not, the complaint was properly dismissed. On the contrary, if it was, as the trustee had sufficient of the trust property in his hands to pay it, the plaintiffs were entitled to judgment. The dismissal of the complaint, it is true, was not excepted to; but, as the judge evidently based his decision on the ground that the debt for which the action was brought did not come within the purpose of any of the trusts contained in the trust deed, if. he was wrong in this, the error should lead to a reversal of the judgment.
If, then, at the time she executed the trust deed she was in no sense liable for or owed the plaintiffs the debt in question, there is no. ground for claiming that it was a debt provided for in such conveyance. It is absurd to assume that the trust embraced the payment of a demand or liability that had no existence at its creation, and when it depended altogether upon a contingency in the future whether the grantor would ever become bound, and the contingency entirely under her control. If it were conceded that liabilities, contingent or otherwise, are provided for by the deed, it must be liabilities existing when the conveyance was executed, and for some existing thing, and to some one who could be secured. It should be at least such a demand as would entitle a party, under the provisions of the English bankrupt act, or our insolvent laws-, to a share in the insoE vent or bankrupt estate. There was no demand or liability in this case which could be proved under the bankrupt or insolvent laws, or on which any portion of the bankrupt or insolvent estate could be paid, when the deed was
It cannot, therefore, be insisted, upon any reasonable construction of the deed of September; 1833, that the plaintiff’s judgment is a debt within its provisions which the trustee is
This disposes of the appeal upon the ground on which the action was presented by the pleadings, and tried in the court below, viz.: assuming the trust deed to be valid, and claiming that the plaintiffs’ judgment against Mrs. Eames was a liability provided for by. it. As the debt in suit was not a debt within the provisions of the deed, no case was made entitling the plaintiffs to a judgment in their favor. Were the question, however, presented by the case, whether the plaintiffs were entitled to have the deed set aside and the property subjected to the payment of their judgment, on the ground of fraud, or because it was a conveyance of personal estate
The judgment of the Supreme Court should he affirmed.
The justice before whom this case was tried found- that the debt due to the plaintiffs, for which this action was brought, did not exist at the time of the execution of the. trust. deed in 1833, but accrued in 1854. The com-: plaint does aver that the trust deed was illegal,, hut asks to have the. debt, paid out of the property in the hands of the trustees, on the allegation that Mrs.- Eames, the grantor,, was the holder of the stock on which the liability arose. It must, therefore, he considered as assuming the validity of-the trust, and asking, to he paid by the trustee on account of the presumed liability, from her being the owner of the stock at the time of the conveyance, "of on the ground that the stock passed to the trustee by the conveyance, and therefore he was. liable, . .
There can he no difficulty in disposing of the first ground, by the statements that no. doubt, existed at the time of the trust deed from Mrs. Eames to the plaintiffs. It is true she owned the stock then; and if the debt had been due then from .the company to the plaintiffs it would .have been provided for- under" the trust deed, but the debt was not created till nearly twenty years after the assignment, was made; There was ,no liability- existing at .the time of the execution of.the deed, and none for which the trustees could have been called, on for payment. The deed was not intended to cover, and did not provide for, any not then existing, indebtedness,
I think it is clear that the debt is not one contemplated by the trust deed, or one which the trustees could have paid out of the trust funds without violating the terms of the trust, and it is equally clear that there could be no relation back to the original liability of Mrs. Eames as a stockholder, so as to cover debts contracted by the company long after the trust deed was executed. It is, however, urged that the trustees are liable, as the owners of the stock under the trust deed, and as such owners they are indebted to the company.
I do not think the plaintiffs can now claim against the trustees, to recover for them, on the ground that they were the owners of the stock, and therefore liable. They have established, by them judgment against Mrs. Eames, that she was the owner. If the trustees were the owners of the stock, their liability should be enforced by an action at law, and not by a proceeding in equity. The whole claim here is based upon a judgment against Mrs. Eames. There is no proof that the trustees held any stock at the dissolution, nor any evidence sufficient to charge them with any indebtedness as such trustees. The whole theory of the complaint is that the trustees are liable as such for a debt due from Mrs. Eames, and not for a debt due from themselves.
It is suggested that the debt should be paid out of the income belonging to Mrs. Eames under the trust deed. The complaint does not contain the allegations necessary to make out such a claim, and, even if it did, I think there is no reason for allowing it in this case. The whole title to the property was in the trustees, subject to the trusts. The provision for her support was personal, not assignable, and not subject to debts subsequently incurred, and even that has ceased by her death.
The judgment should be affirmed.
A person free from debt may make a settlement of Ms estate for the benefit of Ms family, by conveying to them the whole interest to take effect in possession immediately, or the reversion to commence in possession, at Ms death. So, if by the same deed he make a provision for the payment of all his debts out of the 'property settled, so that creditors are not and cannot be hindered and delayed, the beneficiaries named, other than Mrs. Eames, took a vested estate in reversion by tMs deed. The nominal consideration of one dollar raised a use and made it a good deed of bargain and sale, and vested the reversion immediately in the beneficiaries.
2. The fact that Mrs. Eames was a stockholder in the Manchester Manufacturing Company did not disable her from making the settlement. It is not possible that she could be considered a debtor until the plaintiffs’ debt was contracted, if she could be at any time before the dissolution of the company ; and there is no pretense that the debt on which the judgment was recovered was contracted prior to the conveyance to Kirkland and Eames. The case is very much like that of one entering into a copartnership, and committing the active management to the other copartners or to an agent. There is in such a case a liability to have debts contracted, which would render the.new acting copartner a debtor, but he does not become such until a debt is actually contracted. Every person is liable to contract debts, and may create agencies under which debts binding him may be contracted, but until he has done so, or a debt has been actually contracted, he cannot make a conveyance which will be fraudulent against creditors, if he is under no other liability. •
3. The plaintiff cannot therefore reach the interest of the-persons upon whom the reverson was settled. I have said that the estate of the beneficiaries other than Mrs. Eames was a vested estate; and 1 think it was such. If, however, it was contingent on account of what is said respecting the law of descents and distribution, wliich should be in force at. Mrs. Eames’ death, it would make no difference in my conclusion as to the validity of the deed. A person may create
i. The remaining question is whether the plaintiff is entitled to sequester the rents and profits payable to Mrs. Eames during her life, to satisfy its judgment. In determining this we must consider the subject as wholly real estate. It originally consisted of both real and personal, hut the latter has been appropriated to the payment of debts provided for in the trust deed. There is no direction in the deed to convert the real into personal, and the doctrine of equitable conversion has therefore no application. The securities now in the hands of the defendants are the proceeds of real estate sold, and are, therefore, so far as this question is concerned, to be considered real. At common law, I have no doubt that a conveyance of one’s estate to trustees, reserving the income to the grantee for life, would render that income subject to the pursuit of creditors. It is against general principles that one should hold property or a beneficial interest in property, by such a title that creditors cannot touch it. But our statute expressly permits such arrangements, where there is a valid trust, under the fifty-fifth section of an article concerning uses and trusts. It declares that no person beneficially interested in a trust for the receipt of the rents and profits of lands, can assign or in any manner dispose of, such interest, etc. (1 R. S., 130, § 63.) This is not limited, like sections 18, 19, in the statute respecting the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, to trusts proceeding from another person. If the beneficiary cannot directly dispose of his interest, it is plain that he cannot by contracting debts put it in the power of another person to take and convert it so as to deprive the beneficiary of it. I have elsewhere stated what I conceive the motive of this peculiar exemption
5. It has been argued that inasmuch as this stock in the manufacturing company passed to the defendants, the trustees, by the trust conveyance, the other trust property should be chargeable with this debt. Passing by other objections which might be urged against this view, it is enough to say that the plaintiff has no judgment against the trustees. He has elected to consider Mrs. Eames as the stockholder who is liable for the debt, and is therefore estopped from taking the ground that the trustees were the stockholders.
It follows from what has been said that the judgment of the Supreme Court is right and ought to be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.