Case Name: In re HASLETT
Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1902-04-23
Citations: 116 F. 680
Docket Number: No. 751
Parties: In re HASLETT.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter
Volume: 116
Pages: 680–687

Head Matter:
In re HASLETT.
(District Court, N. D. Georgia.
April 23, 1902.)
No. 751.
1. Bankruptcy—Property Passing to Trustee—Vested Remainder.
Under the law of Georgia, a deed of real estate to the wife of the grantor, and the children born, and to be born, of the marriage, “to be held by his said wife and his said children, respectively, according to the tenures herein defined as to each of them,” to have and to hold the same to the use of the wife during her life, and at her death to pass to the children then living, and the descendants of any deceased, per stirpes, where there were children living who could take at the time of its execution, created in them a vested remainder, which could be conveyed by them or levied on and sold, and upon the bankruptcy of one during the lifetime of his mother his interest in the property passed to his trustee.
¶1. See Bankruptcy, vol. 6, Cent. Dig. § 223.
In Bankruptcy.
Mayson, Hill & McGill and Lee J. Langley, for bankrupt.
O. E. & M. C. Horton, for petitioning creditors.

Opinion:
NEWMAN, District Judge.
Samuel D. Haslett, in 1882, made a deed by which he conveyed certain real estate, in consideration of love and affection, to his wife, Georgia Ann Haslett, for life, and after her death to their children. The provision of the deed was that, if it should become necessary or greatly to the advantage of both the holder of the life estate and the remainder interest to do so, the life tenant, Georgia Ann Haslett, was authorized to sell and reinvest in other real estate, and for that purpose she was made trustee for her children. Samuel D. Haslett died, and subsequently thereto R. V. Haslett, one .of the children of Samuel D. and Georgia Ann Haslett, filed a petition in bankruptcy.
The question now presented is whether R. V. Haslett's remainder interest in the real estate in question should be scheduled as part of his assets in bankruptcy. It must be determined, of course, by the laws of the state. It would seem that under the law of Georgia R. V. Haslett took a vested remainder in the property in question. Code Georgia, § 3100. If a vested remainder, it could be conveyed, and is ' subject to' levy and sale, such sale carrying the title of the remainder-man, but not authorizing any interference with the possession of the life tenant. Wilkinson v. Chew, 54 Ga. 602. Even if this be a contingent remainder, the contingency is as to an event, and not as to the person, and under the decisions of the supreme court of this state the same result would seem to follow. Morse v. Proper, 82 Ga. 13, 8 S. E. 625; Collins v. Smith, 105 Ga. 525, 31 S. E. 449. If the bankrupt's remainder interest in this real estate could have been conveyed, and levied upon and sold, then it passed to the trustee in bankruptcy upon his appointment and qualification. The bankruptcy act of 1898, § 70, provides:
"The trustee of the estate of a bankrupt, upon his appointment and qualification, and his successor or successors, if he shall have one or more, upon his or their appointment and qualification, shall in turn be vested by operation of law with the title of the bankrupt, as of the date he was adjudged a bankrupt, except in so far as it is to property which is exempt, to all (5) property which prior to the filing of the petition he could by any means have transferred or which might have been levied upon and sold under judicial process against him."
The referee having taken a contrary view of the matter when he had it under investigation, and his finding having been certified to the court, it is now referred back to him, with instructions to cause the trustee to take suitable action in accordance with the views herein expressed.