Ritch v. . Oates

Citations

• 29 S.E. 902
• 122 N.C. 631
• 1898 N.C. LEXIS 318

Syllabus

<p>Action to Recover Land — Fraudulent Conveyance— Homestead — Estoppel—Trust Deed — Joinder of Wife —Non-Age.</p> <p>1. Where a partner wrongfully used partnership funds for the purchase and improvement of real estate which he caused to he conveyed to his wife, and thereafter, in order to secure the repayment of such funds, he and his wife (who was under age), executed a deed of trust, under which the land was sold; .and in the trial of an action by the wife, who repudiated the, trust deed, the jury found that the funds had been invested in the land with intent to defraud the creditors of the husband; Held,</p> <p>(1) That the conveyance to the wife was invalid as to the creditors of the husband.</p> <p>(2) That the deed to the wife being a nullity as to the husband’s creditors, and the husband having never had the legal title but only the right to call for a conveyance, the wife is not entitled to a homestead in the land.</p> <p>(3) That the husband is estopped by the trust deed to claim a homestead as against the beneficiary therein, or the purchaser at the sale thereunder.</p> <p>(4) That the interest which the husband had in the land — a mere right to call for a conveyance — was not such an interest as to require the legal assent or joinder of his wife in the conveyance to bar his right to claim a homestead in the property.</p>