TRUEMAN FERTILIZER CO.
v.
ERNEST STEPHAN, ET AL.
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Trueman Fertilizer Co. sued to set aside a conveyance of real estate by Ernest Stephan to an attorney as allegedly fraudulent. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the suit, holding that a conveyance by a husband to a trustee in contemplation of divorce, made in consideration of the wife's waiver of alimony and assumption of child support, is not a wholly voluntary conveyance subject to being set aside as fraudulent merely because the grantor was insolvent.
The court held that such a conveyance is not a wholly voluntary conveyance and therefore is not fraudulent per se as to creditors based solely on the grantor's insolvency. A deed made by a husband to a trustee in contemplation of divorce, in consideration of which the wife waives alimony claims and assumes custody and support of a child for whose benefit the deed is also intended, may properly be held not to be a voluntary conveyance subject to being set aside as fraudulent to creditors.
“a deed made by a husband to a trustee, in contemplation of his wife's obtaining a divorce, in consideration of which deed the wife agrees to waive and does waive any claim to alimony or suit money, and to assume the custody and support of a child for whose benefit the deed is also intended, may be properly held not to be such a voluntary conveyance as to be fraudulent per se as to creditors”
Establishes the court's central holding regarding when a conveyance in divorce context is not considered fraudulent despite the grantor's insolvency
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceErnest Stephan, facing marital difficulties, agreed to convey real property to W. M. Kennedy, his wife's attorney, as a settlement arrangement. In con…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Consideration For Conveyance cases and more on FLexlaw
Suit was brought by the appellant in the Circuit Court of Lake County to set aside an alleged fraudulent conveyance of real estate. The case went to final hearing on its. merits, whereupon the bill was dismissed. Complainant below has appealed from the final decree.
It appears from the answer and the evidence supporting it, that one Ernest Stephan, the grantor in the alleged fraudulent conveyance sought to be set aside, while having difficulties with his wife, Rebecca F. Stephan, agreed to a proposition that the property involved should be conveyed to one W. M. Kennedy, the attorney for the wife, in order that it might be utilized in making provision for the support of the wife and a child then living with the mother. In consideration of the conveyance as proposed, there was to *208be an express renunciation by the wife of all claims by her to alimony, suit money or allowances for support of the child, Keith Stephan.
The proposition thus made and accepted appears to have preceded a decree of divorce shortly afterward obtained in a suit brought by the wife. The result was that at the time this suit was filed below to set aside the husband’s conveyances as fraudulent as against appellant as his creditor, the property in controversy stood on the record in the name of the attorney, W. M. Kennedy, who claimed to hold it in trust for the minor child of the divorced parents, until, as agreed between husband and wife, it could be disposed of by the said Kennedy at a fair price, the proceeds of the sale to be used for the support and education of the child. In the meantime it was understood that the property would be held and operated as a bathing beach, whose proceeds would be applied toward the payment of taxes and maintenance of the child during the interim.
That the wife, Rebecca F. Stephan, did institute a divorce suit against her, husband, Ernest Stephan, the alleged fraudulent grantor, and that she did in said suit waive all claim on her part to alimony or suit money and thereafter obtained a decree of divorce awarding her the custody of the child, the burden of whose support she did thereafter assume and bear, is amply established by the evidence.
A deed of conveyance from a husband direct to his wife has been held hot to be voluntary when the wife'in consideration of it, had relinquished her right of dower in other lands and had agreed to relinquish her right of dower in still other lands belonging to the husband. Pettit v. Coachman, 51 Fla. 521, 41 Sou. Rep. 40l. On the same principle, we think that in a case like the present, a deed made by a husband to a trustee, in contemplation of his wife’s obtaining a divorce, in consideration of which deed *209the wife agrees to waive and does waive any claim to alimony or suit money, and to assume the custody and support of a child for whose benefit the deed is also intended, may be properly held not to be such a voluntary conveyance as to be fraudulent per se as to creditors, though the grantor was indebted when the deed was made and was otherwise devoid of assets out of which the debt could be enforced.
The debt was not due at the time the challenged deed was made. Nor did the evidence in the present case undertake to show that the challenged deed was intentionally made for the express purpose of defrauding, hindering or delaying appellant as a creditor, but reliance was placed on its alleged voluntary character as subjecting it to being set aside because of the grantor’s alleged insolvency at the time it was made. As we have just pointed out, the deed was not wholly voluntary, so the Chancellor was warranted in refusing to set it aside on the bare presumption that follows wholly voluntary conveyances made by insolvent debtors to their near relatives, or for their benefit, to the prejudice of existing creditors. See Cowdery v. Harring, 106 Fla. 567, 143 Sou. Rep. 433; Weathersbee v. Dekle, 107 Fla. 517, 145 Sou. Rep. 198, for the rule applicable in cases like those last mentioned.
Affirmed.
Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Pierce Liberman and Mitchell M. Murch v. Kelso, 354 So. 2d 137 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978)…d’s interest in the property which would have occurred had he predeceased his wife while the parties were still married. Our holding would not preclude an attack on the transfer as being in fraud of creditors. See Trueman Fertilizer Co. v. Stephan, 111 Fla. 207, 149 So. 349 (1933). However, in this case no such claim has been made, and the stipulated record affirmatively appears to the contrary. Ap-pellee was not even aware of the existence of appellants’ judgment at the time of the divorce. The arm’s-leng…
-
State of Fla. Dep't OF Commerce v. Lowery, 333 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)…not in fraud of creditors where it is part of the settlement of property and rights of alimony and support incident to a divorce, particularly where the settlement is adopted and incorporated in the divorce decree. Trueman Fertilizer Co. v. Stephan, 111 Fla. 207, 149 So. 349 (1933). Defendants concede that there is no attachable interest as long as the tenancy by the entirety continues. They also concede that death terminates the tenancy without benefiting the creditors. It is unchallenged that the conveya…
-
Holt v. Boozel, 394 So. 2d 226 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)…and Second District Courts of Appeal in Lowery and Liberman. This view, as observed by Judge Grimes in his majority opinion in the latter case, does not preclude an attack on a transfer as a fraud of creditors. See Trueman Fertilizer Co. v. Stephan, 111 Fla. 207, 149 So. 349 (1933). In the instant case, however, there is no evidence to support a theory of fraud. The appellant’s arguments in regard to a claim based upon the theory of equitable lien are without merit. For one thing, the issue was not properly…
Authorities Cited
- Florence v. Cowdery, 106 Fla. 567 (Fla. 1932)
- Weathersbee v. Gus J. Dekle, 107 Fla. 517 (Fla. 1933)
- Collions I. Pettit v. Coachman, 51 Fla. 521 (Fla. 1906)