W. A. Doody Co. v. Green
| Decision Date | 19 November 1908 |
| Citation | 62 S.E. 984,131 Ga. 568 |
| Parties | W. A. DOODY CO v. GREEN et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
The relationship of uncle and nephew will not support an insurable interest.
[Ed Note.-For other cases, see Insurance, Dec. Dig. § 767 [*]]
Where an insurance company issued a policy at the instance of the insured, payable to a named person as nephew of the insured who was also his ward, and upon the death of the insured voluntarily paid the policy to the nominated beneficiary neither the creditor nor the administrator of the insured can recover of the beneficiary the excess of the amount collected after discharging the guardian's debt to the beneficiary on the ground that at the time of the issuance of the policy the insured was indebted as guardian of the beneficiary and used the ward's money in paying all premiums subsequent to the initial payment.
[Ed. Note.-For other cases, see Insurance, Dec. Dig. § 797. [*]]
In the administration of an estate, debts due by a deceased person as guardian for the estate committed to him as such rank in priority over debts due on judgments obtained during the lifetime of the deceased.
[Ed. Note.-For other cases, see Executors and Administrators, Dec. Dig. § 261. [*]]
Error from Superior Court, Emanuel County; B. T. Rawlings, Judge.
Petition of Y. E. Bargeron, as administrator of Bird, to marshal the assets. W. A. Doody Company and Charles H. Green, guardian of Thomas H. Green, filed answers. From the judgment, the Doody Company brings error. Affirmed.
Hardeman, Jones & Johnson, for plaintiff in error.
Williams & Bradley, for defendants in error.
W. A. Bird applied for insurance in the American Guild, and his certificate was issued to him on April 28, 1903. Thereafter, on January 28, 1904, he surrendered his original certificate, with a request for a change of beneficiary, and a new certificate was issued to him on that date, with the benefits made payable to Thomas H. Green, his nephew. The premiums of this last contract of insurance were paid out of the funds belonging to Thomas H. Green, which the insured at that time had in his hands as guardian of Thomas H. Green. Upon the death of the insured the insurer paid to Chas. H. Green, who was the insured's successor as guardian of Thomas H. Green, $1,000, the amount of the policy. Y. E. Bargeron, as administrator of Bird, filed a petition to marshal the assets of the estate and for direction. The W. A. Doody Company, a judgment creditor, and Chas. H. Green, guardian of Thomas H. Green, filed answers. The case was submitted to the judge upon an agreed statement of facts, to be decided by him without a jury. In addition to the foregoing recitals of facts, it was agreed that the debt due Thomas H. Green by W. A. Bird as guardian was the amount represented by his last return as such guardian, which was less than $1,000; that W. A. Doody Company's debt was represented by a judgment against W. A. Bird; that the debts of the other creditors of W. A. Bird were upon open accounts; and that the assets in the hands of the administrator of Bird were insufficient to pay off all the creditors. The court adjudged that the administrator, after paying the expenses of the administration, should first pay the amount due to Chas. H. Green, as guardian of Thomas Green; that next in order he should pay the judgment of the Doody Company; and that if any money remained it should be distributed among the account creditors. Doody Company excepts to this judgment, alleging it to be erroneous (1) because Thomas H. Green had no insurable interest by reason of relationship in the policy of life insurance in which he was named as beneficiary, but had an insurable interest as creditor of his guardian, and the law would presume that the insured named as beneficiary a person having an insurable interest, and that the policy was a security for debt, and when the debt was paid the security was released, and cannot be insisted on to the prejudice of the other creditors of the insured; (2) because the court should have decreed that Thomas H. Green, and Chas. H. Green, his guardian, must pay back into the estate of the insured the overplus after having paid the debt due Thomas H. Green; and (3) because the claim of Doody Company was a claim against the estate of W. A. Bird prior in dignity to the amount which W. A. Bird, as guardian of Thomas H. Green, was due his ward.
1. It is conceded that, according to the almost unbroken current of authority, the relationship of uncle and nephew will not support an insurable interest. 1 Cooley's Briefs on Ins. 290; 3 Am. & Eng. Enc. L. (2d Ed.) 941, and cases there collated.
2. But the proceeds of the policy of insurance were no part of the estate of W. A. Bird. When the second certificate of insurance was issued, the contract of the insurer was to pay to the nephew, and not the administrator, of the insured. No copy of the policy of insurance appears in the record, but it is stated in the agreed statement of facts that its benefits were payable to Thomas H....
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