Wooten v. Steele

• Citation: 109 Ala. 563,19 So. 972
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama
• Decision Date: 10 April 1896
• Parties: WOOTEN ET AL. v. STEELE ET AL.

19 So. 972

109 Ala. 563

WOOTEN ET AL. v. STEELE ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

April 10, 1896

Appeal from chancery court, Marengo county; W. H. Tayloe, Judge.

Action by James A. Steele, administrator, and others, against Council B. Wooten and others, to set aside conveyances as fraudulent. There was a judgment for complainants, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

On May 23, 1882, C. B. Wooten purchased from Robert L. Steele a tract of land situated in Wilcox county, Ala., known as the "Odum Place," and for the purchase thereof executed the following instrument: "State of Alabama, Marengo County. Know all men by these presents, that I, Council B Wooten, having purchased from Robert L. Steele, trustee, the tract of land known as the 'Odum Place,' in which the said Steele owned an undivided one-half interest. I hereby agree to pay the said Steele one-half the amount the above-mentioned lands may sell for. It is agreed that I am not to be responsible to the said Steele for any amount except it accrue from the sale or other disposition that may be made of the Odum land. Said land contains about 2,520 acres, and is situated in Wilcox county, Alabama. This, the 23d day of May, 1882. C. B. Wooten." This land had been conveyed by Thomas S. Fry and wife to Robert L. Steele, as trustee for certain named persons in a deed of trust, on January 2, 1877. After the conveyance of the property to C B. Wooten, and the execution of the above-copied instrument Robert L. Steele died intestate in Marengo county, in the year 1882. He left no lineal descendants, but left surviving him his wife and two half-brothers, James P. Steele and Lem. G. Steele. The widow of Robert L. Steele and John J. King were duly appointed administrators of the estate, and made final settlement of their administration in the year 1886 and were discharged. Fannie G. Steele, the wife of Robert L Steele, died in March, 1891, and James A. Steele was duly appointed administrator of her estate. In the year 1888, C B. Wooten sold the land known as the "Odum Place," which was purchased from Robert L. Steele, for $3,000. Thereupon Fannie G. Steele demanded one-half of the purchase price received by Wooten for said land, and upon his failure to pay the same brought an action against him, and counted upon the agreement copied above. Upon the death of Fannie G. Steele the action was revived in the name of James A. Steele, her administrator, and the complaint was further amended by adding the names of James P. and Lem. G. Steele as parties plaintiff. Judgment was recovered by the plaintiffs in this suit against said C. B. Wooten. On January 12, 1888, C. B. Wooten conveyed certain lands owned by him to his brother, Shade Wooten, and on the same day executed a conveyance of other land to William A. Wooten, the son of Shade Wooten. A short time thereafter, Shade Wooten conveyed the lands conveyed to him by C. B. Wooten, together with other lands, to his son, William A. Wooten, and thereafter William A. Wooten conveyed a portion of the lands which had been previously conveyed to him to R. C. Wooten, a minor child of C. B. Wooten, and another portion of said land to Willie J. Wooten, the wife of C. B. Wooten. On June 18, 1892, subsequent to the recovery of judgment against C. B. Wooten, James A. Steele, as administrator of the estate of Fannie G. Steele, and James P. Steele and Lem. G. Steele, filed the present bill against C. B. Wooten, Willie J. Wooten, R. C. Wooten, and William A. Wooten, alleging the facts set out above, and further alleged that the several conveyances above enumerated were purely voluntary, and were made by each of the grantors therein and accepted by each of the grantees with the intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the complainants and the other creditors of C. B. Wooten; and the prayer of the bill was that these conveyances should be set aside as null and void, and that the property therein conveyed be declared subject to the payment of complainants' claim, and that the complainants be given a lien upon said land to the extent of their claims against C. B. Wooten. The respondents demurred to the bill upon certain grounds, which are sufficiently stated in the opinion. In their answer they denied that the several conveyances were voluntary, and made with the intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the creditors of C. B. Wooten; and averred that the agreement executed by C. B. Wooten was given for the purchase money of land conveyed by Robert L. Steele, as trustee, for the benefit of the several persons named as cestuis que trustent, and that the said Robert L. Steele had no fixed or specified interest therein, but simply an undivided interest in connection with the other beneficiaries; that C. B. Wooten was not indebted to the complainants or to Robert L. Steele except for the purchase money of said Odum place, for which the note was given, and which was due him as trustee; and that, if anything was due from him on said note to said Steele, it was due to Steele as ...