DOWER - PREMARITAL CONVEYANCE AS FRAUD ON DOWER

Decedent, seven days before his marriage to plaintiff, conveyed all his property to his nephew, the defendant. Plaintiff was not informed of the transfer until some time after the marriage. The property was worth $22,000, and decedent, who was at that time sixty-two years of age, was allowed to retain a life estate therein. Cancellation of a note for $2,904 owing from decedent to defendant served as consideration for the transfer. Held, the transfer was a fraud on dower since it was made without the knowledge of the intended wife for the purpose of defeating the interest which she would acquire in his estate by the marriage. The majority relied upon the following factors as indicative of bad faith on the part of decedent: the consideration was grossly inadequate; the plaintiff was left penniless; the decedent and plaintiff had been going together for some time, and she had every reason to believe that he was a man of substance; and decedent retained a life estate in the property without providing for her. Three justices dissented, .finding that the consideration was not inadequate, and that therefore the transfer was not a fraud on dower. Granger v. Granger, 296 Mich. 357, 296 N. W. 288 (1941)