Alexander v. Todd. (CIRCUIT COURT.) ROBERT J. ALEXANDER, ASSIGNEE, v. MARTIN L. TODD AND ALFRED W. WOODS. A conveyance of real estate, by a debtor, is clearly fraudulent if, at the time of its execution, no consideration is paid and no security or evidence of indebtedness is taken. Such a conveyance is also impeachable on the ground of the falsity of an admission contained in it, that the whole amount of the consideration had been paid. The presumption of fraud, arising from the non-payment of the consideration and the failure of the vendor to take from the vendee any evidence of indebtedness for the property sold, may be rebutted, if subsequently, and in pursuance of the understanding of the parties at the time the deed was executed, the consideration is paid in good faith. Proof that a full consideration for the property sold was paid, does not decisively negative the presumption of fraud, for the intention of parties, and not the fact of payment, is the test by which the transaction is to be judged. A transfer of property, with an intent to defraud or defeat creditors, will be void, although there may be, in the strictest sense, a valuable and adequate consideration. Where defendants are apprised, by a bill in equity, that a deed executed by them is to be impeached, it is incumbent on them to contradict and explain every fact tending to cast suspicion on it. Possession of land, and receipt of the profits after an absolute conveyance, is evidence of fraud, unless such possession be consistent with the terms and objects of the deed, or the character of it be openly and explicitly understood. It avails nothing that the parties to a sale insist or swear that it was made in good faith, if their declarations are outweighed by the facts and the necessary inference of law. D. Peck, for plaintiff. G. E. Pugh, for defendants. OPINION OF THE COURT: This is a bill in equity, prosecuted by the plaintiff as the assignee in bankruptcy of the defendant Woods, to set Alexander v. Todd. aside, as fraudulent and void, a conveyance of real estate by him to the defendant Todd. The allegations of the bill are substantially: that in April, 1838, the defendant, Woods, having a title in fee to a tract of nearly forty acres of land, on the Ohio river, in Belmont county, in this State, opposite the lower part of the city of Wheeling, then valued by Woods at twenty-five thousand dollars, and having no other property of any considerable value; and being at the time indebted on his own account and as a surety to the amount of nearly twenty thousand dollars, conveyed the said real estate to the said Todd, his brother-in-law, with the intent to defraud his creditors and evade the payment of his debts. The bill charges that Todd was privy to the fraud, and received the deed really as a trustee for the benefit of Woods, and that no consideration was paid by Todd, and that the possession remained virtually in Woods after the conveyance. The prayer is, that the deed may be set aside as fraudulent, and that Todd shall account for any moneys received by him for any part of said property sold; and that such part as is unsold be now sold and the proceeds paid to the plaintiff, for the benefit of the creditors of Woods. The defendants were not required to answer under oath, but have filed answers, not sworn to, denying the fraudulent purpose alleged in the bill, and asserting that the sale and purchase of the property were in good faith, and that the consideration named in the deed was paid. As the answers are not evidence, it will not be necessary to refer specially to the facts stated in them. The deed, which is impeached as fraudulent, is among the exhibits in the case. It bears date April 28, 1838, and appears to have been executed and acknowledged according to the requirements of law; and was left for record in the office of the recorder of Belmont county, by the grantee, on the day of its execution. It purports, in consideration of twenty-five thousand dollars, paid by Todd, to convey to him in fee the tract described, together with all the ferry rights and privileges pertaining to it. It is not signed by Mrs. Alexander v. Todd. Woods, the wife of the grantor; but it appears that, some time after its date, she released her right of dower. The only evidence which relates directly to the execution of the deed is before the court in the deposition of the defendant Woods, who, by his own consent and the consent of the counsel for the plaintiff, has been examined as a witness. He is therefore a competent witness, and entitled to credit, so far as his testimony is not contradicted or weakened and rebutted by the probabilities of the case. He states that the sale and purchase of the real estate had been a subject of conversation between him and Todd for some time. prior to the execution of the deed, but no written agreement had been signed, and the terms of the sale do not appear to have been specifically settled. He also states that he lived on the property at the date of the deed and had occupied it for many years before, and that Todd resided about a mile from it. On April 28, 1838, the parties went to the town of St. Clairsville, the county seat of Belmont county, distant about twelve miles from their homes, where they procured an attorney to write the deed, which was signed, acknowledged, and put on record as before noticed. No money was paid at that time, nor was any note or other writing given by Todd, evidencing his liability to pay the consideration named in the deed or any other sum. Woods says, in his deposition, that there was a verbal understanding that the purchase money was to be paid as he might require it in his business, except sixteen hundred dollars, the payment of which was to be deferred until it could be made from the sale of the property conveyed by the deed. He also testifies, and it is otherwise proved, that in the summer of 1838, some twenty acres of the tract was laid off in town lots and called West Wheeling, a plat of which was made and entered of record in Todd's name. No part of the money, according to the evidence of Woods, was paid to him until August 8, 1839, when he received from Todd twenty-three thousand four hundred dollars. As something will be said hereafter concerning this payment, it will not be noticed further in this place. Alexander v. Todd. Before proceeding with this investigation, the inquiry is suggested, whether from the facts connected with the execution of this deed, apart from the alleged payment at a subsequent day, such indications of fraud are found as will invalidate it. Thus considered, it is clearly a mere voluntary conveyance, and void as impairing the rights of creditors. It is too clear to admit of doubt, that Woods was not in a position to make a legal transfer of this property for any other purpose than the benefit of his creditors. His debts at that time exceeded fifteen thousand dollars, and he possessed no property of any value except the real estate conveyed to Todd. If, therefore, the evidence fails to establish the fact of a bona fide payment of the consideration money, the deed is void as a fraudulent conveyance to the injury of creditors. But, without further remarks on this view of the case, I will notice some of the facts in relation to the transaction in question which justify a strong suspicion, if not the positive conclusion, that it is infected with fraud. There are circumstances in proof, relating to the conveyance in question, which are hardly accordant with an honest purpose in these parties. Without noticing all the facts inducing the suspicion of fraud, there is one, so marked in its character and so widely variant from the usage of the country in such cases, as to be significant, if not conclusive. It will be readily seen that the amount involved in this transaction, especially in reference to these parties and the time it occurred, may well be regarded as large; and, on the supposition that the sale was a real one, and free from any taint of a fraudulent intent, would have induced great caution and vigilance in its consummation. But the remarkable fact appears, that although the sale had often been a subject of conversation prior to the execution of the deed, and the terms had been, to some extent, settled between the parties, nothing had been put in writing respecting it. It is, however, still more remarkable, and wholly without explanation, that Woods executed the deed containing an acknowledgment, in the most solemn Alexander v. Todd. form, that the entire sum of twenty-five thousand dollars had been paid by Todd, when in fact no part of it had been paid, or any promise or security given that it would be paid. It seems incredible, that any man of sane intellect, intending to make a bona fide sale of real estate of large value, should neglect to take even the written acknowledgment of the party, in the form of a promissory note or otherwise, as evidence of the indebtment. It is usual, in such cases, for the purchaser either to give the vendor a note with undoubted personal security, or a mortgage, to assure the payment of the purchase money. In this case, on the theory that the payment was made, nearly sixteen months elapsed from the date of the deed, during which time Woods was in possession of no evidence of Todd's liability to pay. The payment, therefore, if made, was wholly voluntary on his part, and without any pretense that interest on the amount was either demanded or paid. In the case of Hendricks v. Robinson et al., 2 Johnson's Chan. 283, the learned Chancellor Kent held that a conveyance was impeachable for fraud, where the consideraation was large, on the ground that the vendor had taken the promissory notes of the vendee payable on time, without security. After stating that for the remainder of the consideration, amounting to $221,793, notes were taken, payable in one, two, three, four, and five years, the chancellor remarks, "that the whole of this immense debt, created by the sale of the real estate at its fair value, was thus left to rest on the personal promise of H. F., without any other security, real or personal." It is true, in the case referred to, there were other indications of fraud, but great stress was laid by the chancellor on the fact above stated. He remarks, "It is contrary to the ordinary course of dealing, and repugnant to the maxims of common prudence to alienate such an immense real estate without payment or security.' The conveyance from Woods to Todd was clearly fraudulent at the time of its execution, for the reason that no consideration was paid, and no security-not even the prom |