Warren v. Moody

• Decision Date: 23 May 1887
• Citation: 30 L.Ed. 1108,7 S.Ct. 1063,122 U.S. 132
• Parties: WARREN and others v. MOODY and another, Assignees, etc
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

122 U.S. 132

7 S.Ct. 1063

30 L.Ed. 1108

WARREN and others v. MOODY and another, Assignees, etc.

May 23, 1887.

This is a bill in equity, filed in the district court of the United States for the Middle district of Alabama, on the twenty-fifth of July, 1878, by Frank S. Moody and Richard C. McLester, as assignees in bankruptcy of Baugh, Kennedy & Co. and John S. Kennedy, against John S. Kennedy and his wife, Mary E. Kennedy, and Edward Warren and his wife, Vernon L. Warren. The bill alleges that on the seventh of July, 1876, the defendant John S. Kennedy, as one of the partners in the late firm of Baugh, Kennedy & Co., and as an individual, was adjudged a bankrupt by the said district court, on a petition filed by that firm and each of its individual members; that the plaintiffs were appointed on July 28, 1876, assignees in bankruptcy of the estate, rights, and credits of the firm, and of each of its individual members, including the defendant Kennedy; that they received the usual assignment from the register in bankruptcy on the eleventh of August, 1876; that on the thirty-first of December, 1866, Kennedy and his wife were seized and possessed of a tract of land in Sumter county, Alabama, containing 1,056 acres; that on that day, without any other consideration than that of natural love and affection, they undertook to convey the land to their daughter, the defendant Ver- non L. Warren, but the deed was not acknowledged by the grantors until the seventh of October, 1867, and was not recorded until the twenty-ninth of March, 1872; that, as the deed had no attesting witnesses, it did not become operative as a deed of conveyance, as against existing creditors, for any purpose, until the date of its recording, or at least until it was acknowledged; that none of the defendants have been in the actual possession of the land since the date of the deed; that, at the time the deed was executed, Kennedy owed six debts, which are specified in detail in the bill, and amount in the aggregate to $6,442.62, four of them, amounting to $4,371.92, having been proved in bankruptcy, two of those proved having been due to two minors, wards of Kennedy, named Harrison, and one of those not proved having been due to a Mrs. Herbert, and three of the debts having been due by the said firm of which he was a member. The bill alleges that the said deed, being wholly voluntary, was, under the laws of Alabama, absolutely void, as against those debts and as against the plaintiffs, who, as such assignees, represent those debts for the purposes of this suit. The bill prays that the deed may be declared null and void, and be set aside and vacated, and that the land may be sold by the plaintiffs, and its proceeds be administered by them as part of the estate of Kennedy in bankruptcy. The deed, a copy of which is annexed to the bill, sets forth that it is made 'in consideration of the love and affection we bear to our daughter, Vernon L. Warren, and the sum of ten dollars.' It conveys thel and to her and to her heirs and assigns forever, and contains a covenant of warranty and this clause: 'The foregoing conveyance is intended as an advancement to our said daughter.'

The answer of Kennedy and his wife avers that love and affection for their daughter was part of the consideration for the conveyance, and that the sum of ten dollars was also paid as part of the consideration, as stated in the deed; that the defendant Warren and his wife were married on the twentieth of December, 1866; that the deed was executed and delivered to the daughter on the day it bears date; that the daughter and her husband took immediate and actual possession of the land; that the husband rented the land for the year beginning January 1, 1867; that he has had the sole control and management of the land, as agent and husband of his wife, paying taxes thereon, directing and superintending the repairs, and receiving the entire rent thereof for his wife, from the date of the deed to the day of making the answer, April 21, 1879; and that Warren and his wife are still in the actual possession of the land. The answer avers that all the debts of any moment which Kennedy owed at the date of the deed, on his own individual account, being the debts to the two minors, and the debt to Mrs. Herbert, amounted to nearly $3,400; that the same debts were substantially all the debts he owed at the date of his bankruptcy, on his own private account; and that, as a member of the old firm of Baugh, Kennedy & Co., he...