Nugent v. Nugent

• Decision Date: 27 April 1888
• Citation: 70 Mich. 52,37 N.W. 706
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: NUGENT v. NUGENT ET AL.

37 N.W. 706

70 Mich. 52

NUGENT v. NUGENT ET AL.

Supreme Court of Michigan

April 27, 1888

Appeal from circuit court, Kent county, in chancery; R. M MONTGOMERY, Judge.

Bill by James Nugent, as judgment creditor of defendant Daniel Nugent, to set aside a conveyance by Daniel to defendant Emanuel Nugent as in fraud of creditors. Complainant had judgment, and defendant Emanuel appeals.

LONG J.

The facts in this case are very well stated by counsel for defendant, and are as follows: "The bill of complaint in this case is filed by James Nugent as judgment creditor of Daniel Nugent, one of the defendants, to set aside a deed of lands made by Daniel to Emanuel, upon the alleged ground that said conveyance is fraudulent and void as to the creditors of the said Daniel. As we understand it, the case turns upon questions of law, and nearly all of the more material facts are either conceded or established by clear admissions of the party against whom they weigh. Outlined briefly, they are as follows: In the spring of 1879 the defendant Daniel Nugent was a single man, 34 years old, living with his aged and widowed mother, and a brother and sister, (both invalids and unmarried), upon the old family homestead, an 80-acre farm in the township of Cannon, in Kent county. Since some time in April, 1877, Daniel had held the legal title to this farm subject (1) to a lease of the same to Mary Nugent, his mother, for the term of her life; and (2) a lease of the south half of the same to his brother John, which was to take effect at the death of his mother, and continue for the life of the said John Nugent; and (3) subject, further, to a mortgage for $1,000, given in 1877 for the benefit of his sister Cecilia, upon which there was about two years of interest accrued. He also owned 120 acres adjoining the homestead, which was incumbered with mortgage to James Nugent, the complainant, for $3,200 and accrued interest. Daniel had been working the farm, and taking care of the family, under some arrangement with his mother, who held the life-lease. The defendant Emanuel Nugent is an elder brother, who was living upon his own farm in the adjoining township of Grattan, about four miles from the old homestead. Daniel had become dissatisfied with his surroundings, and April 30, 1879, he left, stating that he was going to Colorado and the mining country of the west. Before his departure he deeded all his lands to Emanuel, and also gave him a bill of sale of his farming tools, stock, and other personal property, amounting to $1,000 or $1,200 in value. Emanuel expressly assumed the mortgage for $3,200, and took the 80-acre farm subject to the $1,000 mortgage and the two life-leases, and he also assumed certain debts of Daniel amounting to about $300, and including, so far as appears all of Daniel's unsecured debts, except about $800 or $1,000 of notes in the hands of his mother and brothers. After his departure, Daniel wrote quite often to different members of the family up to August or the 1st of September, 1879, at which date two letters, written at Leadville, Col., were received. Nothing has been heard from or of him since then, except vague rumors, though a good deal of effort has been made, by advertising in the newspapers and other means, to obtain information as to his fate. When Daniel went away, about the 30th of April, 1879, complainant was a law student at Ann Arbor. About the 1st of June he came to the homestead in Grattan, and stayed some weeks, leaving July 6 or 7, 1879, after a somewhat stormy talk with Emanuel, in which he was charged by Emanuel with stirring up trouble, which he denied, and retorted with charges of like nature against Emanuel. In the spring of 1880, the complainant, with full knowledge of the whole matter, settled with defendant Emanuel, and received a deed of the 120 acres covered by his mortgage from Daniel, in full satisfaction of that mortgage and notes, then amounting to $3,400, or upward. He has since sold and conveyed the greater portion of these lands to third parties, who have conveyed to still others. In September, 1880, the said Mary Nugent, the mother of the parties to this suit, together with her two sons, Joseph F. and John, and her daughter, Cecilia, filed their bill of complaint by the said James Nugent, their solicitor, in the circuit court for the county of Kent, in chancery, against said Emanuel Nugent as defendant; alleging, among other things, that the conveyance of said property, read and personal, from Daniel, was made and received in trust for the payment of the debts and obligations of said...