Allen v. McGrath
Allen v. McGrath
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Mrs. Allen derived an estate from her father in land and other property valued at several thousand dollars. The real estate she disposed of in conjunction with her husband and invested a portion of the proceeds in a house and lot in Shelbyville, Ky., and the balance of the money, being about two thousand dollars, was deposited in the banking house of Edwards & Co. to the credit of Walker B. Allen, as trustee for his wife, M. I. Allen. This money was afterwards used in the purchase of a lot of goods, wares, etc., by the husband of Mrs. Allen from the appellant William B. Courtney, and the testimony of the wife
The husband at the time, as the proof shows, was insolvent and had but a few months previously taken the benefits of the bankrupt law. After the purchase of the goods by Courtney, the appellees who were the creditors of the husband Walker B. Allen filed their petition in equity against Courtney and Allen, alleging that the appellant W. B. Allen had sold these goods to Courtney in contemplation of insolvency, and with the intention and design of preferring the defendant Courtney, who was a creditor, to the exclusion of his other creditors, including the appellees. They also allege that Allen’s indebtedness exceeded the value of the property owned by him. Appellants answer this petition alleging that Mrs. Allen was the owner of the goods and held them as her separate estate; that they were sold by her to Courtney, and the only interest that the husband had in them was the right to control and dispose of them as the agent of his wife.. The court below subjected the goods to the payment of the debts of Allen, and from' this judgment Allen and Courtney prosecute this appeal, the wife of Allen not being a party to the controversy. There is no doubt but what a married woman may, with the monies arising from the proceeds of her own property, with the consent of the husband, invest it in property, to be held for her separate use. The money in this case seems to have been received by the husband as trustee of the wife, and with the .intention and purpose at the time of securing it to the wife as her separate estate. The money was the proceeds of the sale of her own property, and when deposited in bank to her credit or that of the husband as trustee, and no creditor of the husband could have subjected it to the payment of his debts, she was in equity entitled to it, and there was no fraud in such a transaction upon the husband’s creditors. The action of the wife, however, in regard to a separate estate thus created, may be of such a character as would deprive her of the fright to assert any claim to it as against
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.