121 Kan. 180 | Kan. | 1926
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This action was brought by the Union National Bank of Wichita, the holder of a deposit claimed by several parties, in which the court was asked to determine to whom the deposit should be paid, and in the petition the plaintiff stated that it was ready and willing to pay the deposit to the person or persons
The contention of the creditors was that J. E. Kramer was insolvent when the Tate land, the title of which had been placed in Otie A. Kramer, was purchased; that he purchased the land with his own funds and placed the title in the name of his wife with the intent to defraud his creditors; that no money had been loaned to him by his wife and that he was not indebted to her when the Tate land was conveyed to her. Otie A. Kramer’s contention was that in 1901 she received from her aunt the sum of $15,000, which amount she turned over and loaned to her husband, and that in 1919 before he became indebted to the complaining creditors, and in response to her request that he pay or secure the payment of the money previously loaned to him, he caused the title to the Tate land, that he had purchased, to be placed in his wife’s name; that at the time of the conveyance to her he owed her about $33,000; that it was not done to defraud creditors, but to pay a valid obligation, and that the deposit in question was the final payment made on the purchase of her land. Upon the testimony received the trial court made the following findings of fact:
“1. On December 7, 1920, one, N. O. Tate, deposited in the Union National Bank of Wichita, Kansas, plaintiff herein, eight thousand two hundred ten and 70/100 dollars (18,210.70) to the credit of J. E. Kramer and Otie A. Kramer, defendants herein.
“2. The defendant, Otie A. Kramer, had no knowledge at the time said deposit was made that said deposit had been made to- the joint credit of herself and her husband, J. E. Kramer, and said deposit was made by the said Tate without consulting either the defendant, Otie A. Kramer, or J. E. Kramer, as to whose name the money should be deposited in.
“3. The defendants, J. E. Kramer and Otie A. Kramer, were husband‘and wife. The defendant, J. E. Kramer, died intestate September 8, 1921, subsequent to the making of said deposit and subsequent to the bringing of this action.
*182 “4. The said sum of eight thousand two hundred ten and 70/100 dollars ($8,210.70) deposited by N. O. Tate was the balance of the purchase price of a farm in Scott county, Kansas, which the said Tate purchased from the defendant, Otie A. Kramer. All negotiations regarding the purchase of the farm by Tate were had between Tate and J. E. Kramer, husband of Otie A. Kramer. The record title of the farm at the time it was purchased by Tate was in Otie A. Kramer.
“5. J. E: Kramer purchased the said Scott county farm in 1919 and had the seller convey it to Otie A. Kramer, SO' that at all times while the farm was in the possession of the Kramers the record title stood in Otie A. Kramer.
“6. The farm was purchased by J. E. Kramer and title taken in the name of Otie A. Kramer prior to the time that the said J. E. Kramer became indebted to the defendants, Stockyards Loan Company, H. Hatfield, and the' Citizens State Bank of Belle Plaine, Kansas, but after the defendant became indebted to the intervener, the First National Bank in Wellington, Kansas.
“7. The defendant, Otie A. Kramer, was presented by her aunt, Phoebe Parkinson, with sums aggregating the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). This amount she turned over to her husband, J. E. Kramer, in 1901 to handle for her. J. E. Kramer invested the money, first, in a flour mill in which he was the heaviest stockholder, and afterwards took it out of the flour mill and invested it in other ways. About the time that J. E. Kramer bought the Scott county farm, his wife asked him to secure her in some way for her money which he had. It was with the intent of repaying to his wife what he owed her that he purchased the Scott county farm and took the title in her name.
“8. The court finds that the purchase of the Scott county farm and the taking of the title in his wife’s name was not done by J. E. Kramer to defraud, hinder or delay his creditors, but was done with the intent and purpose of reimbursing his wife in part for her moneys amounting to fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), of which he had had the use for eighteen years and for which he had paid no interest.
“9. The court further finds that in addition to turning over the Scott county farm to Otie A. Kramer, J. E. Kramer had also' turned over to her seven thousand one hundred dollars ($7,100) in Liberty bonds, and a home in Wichita which was subject to a mortgage. The amount of said mortgage does not appear from the evidence.
“10. The court finds that at the time J. E. Kramer delivered the Scott county farm to Otie A. Kramer and the Liberty bonds and the house in Wichita, he was indebted to her in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the year 1901, or about thirty-three thousand dollars ($33,000).
“11. The total purchase price paid by Tate for the Scott county farm was eighteen thousand two hundred ten dollars ($18,210). Five thousand dollars ($5,000) was deposited in the plaintiff, Union National Bank, to the credit of O. A. Kramer. It appears, however, that this account of O. A. Kramer was opened by J. E. Kramer, and that the defendant, Otie A. Kramer, had no knowledge of it. It does not appear that she ever received the five thousand dollars ($5,000) which was deposited in this account. Otie A. Kramer knew*183 nothing of this account until the evidence in regard to it was introduced at the trial of this case.”
As conclusions of law the court decided that the placing of the title to the Tate land in Otie A. Kramer was not done with the intent to defraud creditors, but it was to return to her a part of the moneys which he had held since 1901. That the deposit in question was the property of Otie A. Kramer; that the $15,000 received by J. E. Kramer from her was not a gift to him, but was loaned to him to handle for her according to his best judgment, and that the creditors had no claim on the deposit by reason of the indebtedness of J.' E. Kramer to them. The Stock Yards Loan Company and the Citizens State Bank appeal, and insist that the findings and judgment are unsupported by the evidence.
The principal points discussed on the appeal involve questions of fact which have been determined by the trier of the facts. They relate mostly to the matter of whether J. E. Kramer was actually indebted to his wife when the Scott county land was transferred to her as a payment of indebtedness, and also to the claim of the insolvency of J. E. Kramer when the property was turned over to her, and whether it was done by him with the intent to defraud his creditors. An examination of the evidence in the record is sufficient to show that Otie A. Kramer received $15,000 in 1901 and that she loaned and turned it over to her husband to be invested and handled for her benefit. We have no hesitation in saying that the proof is sufficient to uphold the finding that there was a bona fide indebtedness of Kramer to his wife, and further that the land was transferred to her in payment of that indebtedness. The deposit in question was the final payment oh the land, and if she was the owner of the land and had legally acquired it she was the owner of the deposit and entitled to recover it.
There was considerable testimony about the financial condition of J. E. Kramer and as to his insolvency when the transfer was made as a payment to his wife. The evidence presented related' largely to his financial condition about two years after the .land transaction and payment. The appellants were subsequent creditors, and the burden was upon them to show such fraud as would defeat the transfer in payment of the debt to Mrs. Kramer. (Dodd Brown Co. v. Hills & Kramer, 21 Kan. 707; Long Bros. v. West & Co., 31 Kan. 298, 1 Pac. 545; Baughman, Sheriff, v. Penn, 33 Kan. 504, 6 Pac. 890; Bank v. Chatten, 69 Kan. 435, 77 Pac. 96.) The
A question is raised as to the competency of Otie A. Kramer to testify in relation to 'her dealings with her husband. Most of her testimony was received without objection to the competency of the witnesses. Some objections were made as to competency of evidence, as, for instance, that it was leading, hearsay and not within
The judgment is affirmed.