The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-11-16
M CANDLES IS
STILL CREDITOR
Petition Fails to Bring Estate
Means to Pay Link His
lust Demands.

can administrator of an insolvent
estate has no authority to bring a suit
to set aside a conveyance of real es-
tate made by decedent in fraud of
creditors
The above is the principle of law
expressed in the syllabus of the opinion
rendered by the supreme court yester
day on the reserved questions from the
circuit court in the matter of the estate
of Antoine j. Lopez, deceased.
The question reserved by the lower
court was whether the demurrer of the
administrator of the estate to petit
ton of Link McCandless to set aside
a deed of trust which he claims de-
frauded creditors out of just claims,
should be sustained.
The case is an interesting one from
legal standpoint. The deed of trust
mentioned was made by Lopez, before
his death, to Foster, and, according to
the petition of McCandless, transferred
from the former to the latter all his
real estate, which is claimed to be
worth $4,000.
When the administrator figured up
the assets and liabilities of the estate,
he found the former amounted to
$774.76, which, after deducting admin
istration expenses, dwindled down to
$52376. The liabilities amounted to
$1007 .4S. This made the estate insol-
vent, and it also made it uncomfortable
for the creditors, of which Link Me-
Candless found himself to be one.
Link hustled around to discover
means by which he could get a little
more than the above figures promised
him, as he knew Lopez was not so de-
cidedly poor as the estate he left
showed he was. This hustling resulted
in finding out that all the deceased S
real estate had been turned over in
trust to Foster, and McCandless imme-
diately petitioned the court to have the
deed set aside and the land made a
part of the estate SO he could get his
money back. This deed, he claims, was
made to defraud the creditors, and the
petition was based on this.
The administrator demurred to this
petition on several technical grounds,
which the supreme court, to which they
were reserved, upheld in an opinion
rendered by Chief Justice Hartwen
yesterday.
Deprived of legal terms, the objec-
tions were as follows: In the first place
the administrator claimed that McCand-
less should have brought regular
creditors bill in equity, as, according
| to him, probate court had no power
to act on a petition of such a nature
Secondly, the administrator claimed
| that he was not permitted by law to
attack any such deed, even if it was
made to defraud creditors. A third
reason was strictly technical.
In discussing the two sides of the
| question, the court renders its opinion
| to the effect that the demurrer should
be sustained on the second objection
| of the administrator.
Dreier Estate Brief,
Deputy Attorney 6 eneral E. A. SUIT
ton has filed brief in the circuit cour
in answer to that fled by Attorney
Clemens on behalf of Cecil Brown il
the latter IS suit to recover an inheri
lance tax paid TO d. L. Conkling a!
treasurer of the Territory. The cast
will probably be decided quickly, nov
that both briefs are on record anC
another point of eonstitutionality viii
be settled.
The facts of the case as agreed upoI
by both counsels in the briefs and in {
stipulation previously filed, are as fol
lows: The estate paid an inheritance
tax of $ll ,S64, which was two per cent
of the value of stock transferred from
Brown, who had received il in trus
from August Dreier, to DIeer 3 chill
dren.
The question involved is whethe
such a transfer of property comes with
in the inheritance tax act. On Noyem
Der o, 1907, Dreier executed IA trus
deed 10 Brown of 1000 shares of Angus
Dreier, Limited, in trust TO pay Il
Dreier during his lifetime all the income
from same and upon his death provided
that the income should go 10 his chill
dren and left IL 10 the discretion o.
Brown TO transfer the stock 10 the chill
dren at any time after DTeief Is death
DTcier provided that the shares shout,
remain Ia biz names on the books o.
the corporation and that be should haYl
all the rights Of a stakeholder until hi
death, He also reserved the right 4
revoke the trust deed whenever he N
pleased Afier biz death, tho transfe
Ras made 10 the children 40 provided
aud the above mentioned Inheritance
ta2 was paid l0 the Territory under pro
tnsi, liToNn 10 now puins 90 recover u
| Tho hN nn the matter b iithat al
| property which ihall pasr hy vii o
| by tho lHiesigie laws of ihe TefHioTl
iipm ans peltan who may die teisoi
nf possessed of some Ol pf any ihlefpr
lni ~ pfomr ffomi tHmfi Which shRl
hp ifaaFirufd b decd w slhnief mad
4 in eouiemdallpn w dfsih M giaHiof nj
lihlsaafi a. lphe enefl M possession "