Bittinger v. Kasten

Citations

• 111 Ill. 260

Syllabus

<p>1. Fraudulent conveyance — voluntary settlement on wife, by party not insolvent. To rendér a reasonable provision by a husband for his wife, by investing her with the title to real estate, fraudulent, as against a creditor of the former, it must appear that he was at the time insolvent, or that such gift made him so.</p> <p>2. The owner of property may at any time give the same to any one he chooses, so long as he thereby injures no then existing creditor, and no subsequent creditor can call it in question, unless the donor is guilty of an actual fraudulent intent, and such creditor is thereby injured. This follows from his absolute dominion over his property; and the mere fact that he may be indebted, is not alone sufficient to make a gift or voluntary conveyance by him inoperative. If there is no intention on his part to delay or defraud his creditors, the conveyance is not within the Statute of Frauds.</p> <p>3. No creditor without any lien has any right to complain that his debtor is giving away his property to his wife or children, unless such creditor can establish the fact that the debtor has not retained enough to satisfy existing debts. Such grantor must make himself insolvent by such gifts or conveyances, and to impeach them, fraud must be alleged and proved.</p> <p>4. So this court has held, that where there is no fraudulent intent, and the gift or provision made by a debtor to his wife or child is a reasonable one under the circumstances, leaving ample property, unincumbered, for the payment of his debts, not materially lessening his creditors’ then prospect of payment, the gift or provision will be sustained.</p> <p>5. Same — presumption as to insolvency. In the absence of an allegation in a creditor’s bill to reach property given by a husband to his wife, that he was insolvent at the time, or that such gift rendered him unable to meet all his legal obligations, or even that he owed any other persons, and of proof to sustain the same, it can not be p