Warner v. Dove

Miller, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The complainants, alleging themselves to be creditors of William T. Dove, filed a bill in equity to vacate and annul three deeds by which certain land in Montgomery County, in this State, was conveyed to 1ns wife Ann W. Dove, and to subject the same to the payment of their claims. The first deed is from Haight and wife, dated May 12th, 1862, conveying about fifty acres for the consideration of §1,800; the second from Jackson and wife, dated October 17th, 1862, conveying about sixty-two acres for the consideration of §1,375, and the third from Knock and wife, dated September 4th, 1864, conveying about fifty-eight acres for the consideration of §900. The bill charges that these several pieces of land were purchased and paid for with the money of the husband and not of the wife, and that he falsely and fraudulently, and with intent to delay, hinder, cheat and defraud the complainants and his other creditors procured the same to be conveyed by the several vendors to his wife by the deeds above mentioned.

There can be no doubt of the right of these creditors to the remedy they seek, provided the allegations of their bill are sustained by sufficient proof. The defendants, Dove and wife, answered separately, but their answers were not read in evidence, and we can take no further notice of them than to see that they each deny and put in issue the charge that the property was purchased with the husband’s money, and also the charge of fraud, and that the answer of the wife neither admits nor denies the indebtedness ⁵⁸⁴ of the husband to the complainants as charged in. the bill. There are several grounds on which the decree below dismissing the bill must be sustained. 1st. There is no proof as against Mrs. Dove, the grantee in the deeds, of the indebtedness of her husband at the time these conveyances were made.

The answer of the husband is not evidence against her, and the judgments confessed by the husband in 1867 on the claims of the complainants are not proved. Mere short copies of these judgments Avere filed as exhibits Avith the bill but were not proven under the commission, and that certainly is not sufficient proof of the husband’s indebtedness as against the answer of the Avife silent on the subject. Eyler & Matthews vs. Crabbs, 2 Md., 154 . Nor would the Amluntary confession by the husband of judgments on these claims in 1867, long after these deeds were executed, prevent the Avife, the grantee therein, from denying the existence or validity of the claims, or relying upon the fact that they were barred by limitations before the judgments Avere confessed.

Niller vs. Johnson, 27 Md., 6 ; McDowell vs. Goldsmith, 24 Md., 230 . 2d. But apart from technical objections of this character, the decree may well stand upon broader and firmer grounds. As to the third deed, of the 4th of September, 1864, the proof is clear that Mrs. Dove borroAved the money from Mr. Lyddane, to pay for the land thereby conveyed, AA'hich she applied to that purpose; and the testimony shoAA's beyond question that no money that ever belonged to her husband Avas in any Avay directly or indirectly expended in this purchase. There is therefore no ground on which that deed can be assailed.

With respect to the íavo other deeds of May and October, 1862, the most favorable point from Avhich they can be assailed by the appellants, is to consider them as mere voluntary settlements by the husband on his Avife, he having furnished the whole purchase money or given it to her at some time prior to their respective dates. Viewed in this light and assuming the husband’s indebtedness charged in the ⁵⁸⁵ bill to be proved, how stands the ease? By the law of this State, as it now is and was at the time of these transactions, (and there is no proof in this record that the law of the District of Columbia is different,) a husband has the right and can make a valid gift of money or other property to his wife, provided it be not “in prejudice of the rights of his subsisting creditors.” So far as the record discloses, the only debt he owed at the date of either of these two deeds, was that due to the complainants, "Warner, Miskey & Merrill, which consisted of a draft for $867.T?¡%, due in September, 1862, and on which $201.II/-tr, was paid in December following, and an open account of $399.TY¡r. The debt to Riggs & Co., was not contracted until the 30th of March, 1863.

Now it is very clearly shown by the testimony that for many years prior to this time and up to June, 1863, when he retired, Mr. Dove had been extensively engaged in large and profitable business operations of various kinds in the city of Washington; that he had large dealings with merchants in that