Motz v. Sheets

• Decision Date: 25 October 1909
• Parties: MOTZ v. SHEETS ET AL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

144 Iowa 243

122 N.W. 904

MOTZ

v.SHEETS ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 25, 1909.

Appeal from District Court, Guthrie County; J. H. Applegate, Judge.

Suits to set aside certain deeds and the transfer of certain shares of bank stock. There was a judgment dismissing the petitions. The plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.Sayles & Taylor, for appellant.

J. D. Brown, J. E. Batschelet, and Wilson & Albert, for appellees.

SHERWIN, J.

The plaintiff is the administrator of the estate of Alfred Sheets, and as such administrator brought an action to set aside a deed from Alfred Sheets to M. M. Sheets, and a deed of the same land from M. M. Sheets to W. A. Sheets. The plaintiff also brought another action against M. M. Sheets alone, to set aside the transfer of certain shares of stock in the First National Bank of Lineville, Iowa, for which Alfred Sheets had paid, but which were in fact issued to M. M. Sheets. The conveyance of the land and the transfer of the stock were alleged to be fraudulent as to the creditors of Alfred Sheets.

The principal facts are substantially as follows: Alfred Sheets had, for many years prior to the transactions involved herein, been the owner of 60 shares of the capital stock of the Bank of Lineville, and owned said stock at the time of his death. Lineville is in Wayne county, and for some 15 or more years before his death Alfred Sheets lived in Guthrie county where the defendant M. M. Sheets also resided. The Bank of Lineville became insolvent, and in June, 1904, a receiver was appointed therefor. An assessment of the stockholders became necessary, and on the 22d of September, 1904, the receiver filed in the Wayne district court an application for an assessment of the stock. Notice of such application was served on Alfred Sheets in Guthrie county on the 23d day of September, 1904, requiring him to appear in the district court of Wayne county on the 3d day of October. On the 10th day of October, 1904, the court ordered an assessment of 50 per cent. of the face value of the stock. Another assessment of 50 per cent. was made later, and this proposed assessment notice was served on Alfred Sheets in Guthrie county on the 1st of March, 1905. On September 14, 1904, Alfred Sheets and his wife conveyed to M. M. Sheets 30 acres of land, for which he paid full value. The payment therefor being made some time in October of the same year, M. M. Sheets conveyed this land to his son and codefendant in February, 1906, and the two conveyances are the ones sought to be set aside. In October, 1904, M. M. Sheets bought the First National Bank stock of his father, and paid him full value therefor, although a certificate of stock did not issue to M. M. Sheets until November 18, 1904. The trial court found that the conveyance of the land in question and the transfer of the bank stock were made with intent on the part of Alfred Sheets to defraud his creditors. But it was also found that M. M. Sheets did not participate in such...