BANKRUPT’S WINDFALL

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 455, 10 September 1928, Page 16

BANKRUPT’S WINDFALL

LEGACY FROM WILL JUDGE GRANTS DISCHARGE (From Our Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, Saturday. The position of a bankrupt who had become a beneficiary under a will was the subject of legal argument in the Supreme Court to-day, when an application was made by Mr. P. H. Watts for the discharge from bankruptcy of George Cornfoot, Margaret Elizabeth Cornfoot, and their son, Henry Cornfoot. Mr. N. Johnson said he opposed the application on behalf of Mr. R. F. Goulton with respect to Harry Cornfoot. The grounds were that he wanted to ascertain the position that now existed through the bankrupt named becoming a beneficiary under the will of his grandfather, Mr. Alexander Bell, who died on the morning the application of the bankrupt’s discharge was last before the Court. Counsel said his client was a mortgagee of a Hawke’s Bay property which George Cornfoot purchased from Mr. O. M. Monckton.

Mr. Johnson added that under tho will Harry Cornfoot received a legacy of £SOO and would share with other grandchildren jn the residue of the estate at the expiry of ten years. Mrs. Cornfoot inherited an annuity, which was protected from bankruptcy. No moral wrong attached to any of Lite Cornfoots in connection with the bankruptcy. The creditors had passed a resolution at their meeting prior to the death of Mr. Bell recommending that the assets should be returned to the bankrupts. After legal argument as to the position, his Honour said the official assignee only sought time in which to ascertain the position. He added that he did not see why young Cornfoot should be penalised just because he had inherited a legacy. There was no suggestion of impropriety on the part of any of the bankrupts. The rights of the official assignee in respect of Harry Cornfoot’s interests were ascertainable whether discharge was granted or not. The applications for discharge made on behalf of the three bankrupts weie granted.