Chamberlain v. Fay
| Decision Date | 13 December 1927 |
| Docket Number | 38260 |
| Citation | 216 N.W. 700,205 Iowa 662 |
| Parties | H. CHAMBERLAIN, Executor, Appellee, v. CARRIE E. FAY et al., Appellants; ELLIS N. FAY et al., Appellees |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
REHEARING DENIED MARCH 10, 1928.
Appeal from Clay District Court.--JAMES DELAND, Judge.
Action by the executor of the estate of Nathan T. Wilcox, deceased to subject certain personal property to the payment of claims and the expenses of administration. Decree and judgment as prayed, and the defendants Marguerite Crandall and Carrie E Fay appeal.
Affirmed.
Heald, Cook & Heald, for Carrie E. Fay, appellant.
W. H. Morling, for Marguerite Crandall, appellant.
Buck & Kirkpatrick, for plaintiff, appellee.
J. P. Goble, for Odd Fellows Lodge, appellee.
I.
Nathan T. Wilcox died testate June 4, 1924. According to the inventory filed by his executor, the assets of his estate amounted to $ 548.83. Claims were filed and allowed by the executor against the same in approximately double this sum. Carrie E. Fay, a grandniece of testator's, who lived in his home practically all of the time after she was 3 1/2 years of age, was the chief beneficiary of his bounty. On October 13, 1915, the testator conveyed 160 acres of land in Clay County to Carrie E. Fay for a consideration of $ 1.00 and love and affection. On March 25, 1921, he executed a will, by the terms of which he gave the appellee Ellis N. Fay $ 1,000, and the appellant Marguerite Crandall $ 3,000. The residuary estate he bequeathed to Carrie E. Fay. On October 26, 1923, the provisions made in the will for Ellis N. Fay and Marguerite Crandall were revoked. Prior to that date, and on or about November 4, 1923, testator assigned a note and mortgage held by him for $ 6,000 to H. Chamberlain, as trustee. This trust instrument provided that the interest and income from said note and mortgage should be paid to the deceased so long as he lived, and upon his death and the payment of said note, the trustee was directed to pay $ 5,000, with the accumulated interest, to Marguerite Crandall, and $ 1,000 to Ellis N. Fay.
Carrie E. Fay filed a claim against the estate of Nathan T. Wilcox for $ 795.31, $ 500 of which, with the accumulated interest thereon, was represented by a note given by the testator to her on or about September 27, 1919. The remaining items of her claim were for sums expended for nurses' hire, drugs, and medicine for decedent, and for loss of time as a teacher in the public schools, occasioned by his illness.
The testator also possessed a note for $ 1,900, executed to him by the Odd Fellows Lodge at Spencer, Iowa. Shortly prior to his death, he entered into an agreement in writing with the lodge, by the terms of which it was agreed that, upon the payment by it of all of the expenses of bringing his body to Spencer for burial, and of the burial thereof by the side of his wife, the note was to be canceled and surrendered.
This action was commenced by the executor, to subject all of the property above referred to, to the payment of the claims filed against the estate, collateral inheritance taxes, and the expenses of administration. The appellant among other defenses tenders a plea of former adjudication, which will be discussed in detail in another subdivision of this opinion.
The court found that the conveyance of the farm to appellant Carrie E. Fay and the assignment of the $ 6,000 note and mortgage to Chamberlain as trustee, were voluntary and without consideration. At the time the deed to the farm was executed, the testator was solvent, and had sufficient property out of which to pay all of his obligations; but, at the time the $ 6,000 note and mortgage were assigned to Chamberlain in trust for the purposes stated above, he possessed no other property. It is not claimed that actual fraud was attempted by any of the parties in the several transactions referred to.
The right of an owner who is solvent to make a gift of his property is, of course, not questioned. The evidence clearly shows that, at the time the farm was conveyed to appellant Carrie E. Fay, the testator possessed abundant property with which to pay his obligations, and the gift thereof to her must be sustained. If, however, the assignment and transfer of the $ 6,000 note and mortgage to the trustee are sustained, with the consequent distribution thereof to the beneficiaries named, the assets of the estate will be wholly insufficient to pay the just claims against the same, together with the necessary expenses of administration.
It is the contention of counsel for appellant that, in the absence of fraud, the proceeds of the note assigned for her benefit cannot be subjected to the payment of the claims filed against the estate. The rule established by the authorities cited by appel...
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