McGahee v. McGahee
McGahee v. McGahee
Opinion of the Court
(After stating the foregoing facts.) In the brief for the plaintiffs in error it is stated that the writ of error presents for decision these issues:
“First: Where there is no allegation of assent by an executor to a devise and no allegations of dominion or control of property devised, is the title of the devisee ever perfected tn the extent that the property may be ‘transferred’?
“Second: May the judgment of the court of ordinary on a subject exclusively within the jurisdiction of such court be set aside in an equitable action in the superior court where there is no attack on the jurisdiction of the court of ordinary or the regularity of its proceedings, and where there is no direct attack on the validity of the judgment rendered by the court of ordinary?
“Third: May the judgment of the court of ordinary in awarding a year’s support to a widow be collaterally attacked in equity upon the ground of fraud?
“Fourth: May such judgment of the court of ordinary be set aside upon the allegation of fraud by one who failed to interpose a caveat or opposition to the award before .the final judgment of the court of ordinary?
“Fifth: Where there is no allegation by one seeking to set aside the judgment of the court of ordinary awarding a year’s support upon the grounds of fraud to the effect that the award was excessive, and where it does not appear that any objection has been made either in the court of ordinary or elsewhere that the said award was excessive, may the award be set aside in equity where on its face it appears that the court of ordinary has jurisdiction, and that the proceedings therein were regular and the citation was duly published?
“Sixth: Do the superior courts have the authority to determine
Since no other questions which may have been raised by the demurrers have been argued or insisted upon here, we will confine our consideration of the case to the issues stated above.
We deal first with the question of the defendant husband’s interest in the land devised to him by his father’s will. It is strongly urged that no interest in the real estate here involved, which could be the subject-matter of a fraudulent transfer, passed to the defendant legatee. To this we do not agree, as we think that the petition as amended sufficiently alleged, as against general demurrer, that the defendant’s inchoate title had become legal title by assent. It has been frequently held by this court that assent to a legacy places title in the devisee and is generally irrevocable. Watkins v. Gilmore, 121 Ga. 488 (49 S. E. 598); Whatley v. Musselwhite, 189 Ga. 91 (5 S. E. 2d, 227); Cull v. Cull, 39 Ga. App. 164 (146 S. E. 559). Assent may be expressed or presumed from conduct. Code, § 113-802. We shall not repeat the allegations of the petition as amended, as they are fully set out in our statement of facts, but suffice it to say, they were sufficient to allege that the defendant husband received his legacy (the property in controversy); that he owned it', and was receiving a monthly rental from it. Such was a sufficient allegation that he was in possession and control of the property devised to him. In 1849 this court, in Jordan v. Thornton, 7 Ga. 517, 520, said: “Assent to a legacy is necessary to enable a legatee to sue at law for his legacy. It is not necessary to show an express assent; it may be implied from the facts and circumstances. The assent, it is true, must be clear and unambiguous. The possession of the property willed, does make out a clear case of assent, by implication.” And in the rather recent case of Lewis v. Patterson, 191 Ga. 348, 353 (12 S. E. 2d, 593), it was held: “Since there is a presumption that executors will perform their duties and will thus take care of estates entrusted to them [Wilson v. Aldenderfer, 183 Ga. 760, 189 S. E. 907], where nothing else appears, the assent of an executor to a legacy
The second, third, and fourth questions present this proposition for decision: Has a court of equity jurisdiction to set aside a judgment in a year’s support proceeding upon the ground of fraud, on the petition of a stranger to that proceeding who interposed no objection to the award prior to final judgment, there being no attack upon the jurisdiction of the court of ordinary or the regularity of its proceedings? We think that it has. The jurisdiction of courts of equity to vacate judgments obtained by fraud is well recognized. Code, § 110-710; Langston v. Roby, 68 Ga. 406; Williams v. Lancaster, 113 Ga. 1020 (39 S. E. 471); Ford v. Clark, 129 Ga. 292 (58 S. E. 818); Giles v. Cook, 146 Ga. 436 (91 S. E. 411); Branan v. Feldman, 158 Ga. 377 (123 S. E. 710); Owenby v. Standi, 190 Ga. 50, 60 (8 S. E. 2d, 7). In Wade v. Watson, 133 Ga. 608 (66 S. E. 922), this court held that the superior court, in the exercise of its equity jurisdiction, upon appropriate pleadings, has power to set aside a judgment of the Supreme Court obtained by fraud. And in Lester v. Reynolds, 144 Ga. 143 (86 S. E. 321), it was held that the superior court in the exercise of its equitable jurisdiction may set aside a judgment of a court of ordinary procured by fraud, upon proper allegations and proof, and that the party seeking such relief
We have held in the preceding division of this opinion that the allegations of the petition were sufficient to show that the defendant husband had such an interest in the property devised to him as to be the subject-matter of a fraudulent transfer, and as pointed out above equity has jurisdiction to set aside a judgment obtained by fraud. The allegations of the petition in the instant case, if true — and for purposes of the depiurrer they are
The terms of our statutes are broad enough to include every transaction by which creditors or others may be defrauded, and that is true whether a conveyance by a deed or a judgment be employed. “It is not the nature or form of the transaction, but the presence of the fraud, which brings the case within the prohibition of the statutes. . . Many devices and instruments have been resorted to for the purpose of covering up fraud; but whenever the law is invoked they are declared to be nullities; the law looks upon them as if they had never been executed. They can never be justified, or sanctioned by any new shape or cover, by forms or recitals, by covenants or sanctions which the ingenuity or skill or genius of the rogue may devise.” 24 Am. Jur. 218, § 62. In the present case the allegations of the petition as amended were sufficient to allege that the year’s support proceeding was brought as a part of a plan and scheme on the part of the defendant husband and Mrs. McGahee to place his property beyond the reach of any claim for support and maintenance that the plaintiff and her children might have. Such
The ruling on questions five and six is made in the third headnote and does not require further elaboration.
It necessarily follows from what has been said in the above three divisions that the petition as amended stated a cause of action, and the court did not err in overruling the demurrers thereto.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
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- McGAHEE v. McGAHEE
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