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ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF CREDITORS

Alabama. - Every general assignment made by a debtor or a conveyance by a debtor of substantially all his property in payment of a prior debt, by which a preference or priority of payment is given to one or more creditors over the remaining creditors of the grantor, shall be and inure to the benefit of all the creditors equally, but this section shall not apply to mortgages given to secure a debt contracted contemporaneously with the execution of the mortgage. Every judgment confessed, attachment procured by the debtor, or other disposition of property by which a debtor conveys all, or substantially all, of his property which is subject to execution, in payment of or as security for a debt, shall be deemed a general assignment. Such assignment must be recorded in each county where the property is, and is effective only from the time of delivery to the probate judge for record.

Arizona. - Assignments shall provide for the distribution of all real and personal property, not exempt, in proportion to the respective claims of the creditors; preferences are void. The title to property attempted to be conveyed to defraud or prefer vests in the assignee, notwithstanding the transfer. Notice must be given of the appointment of the trustee, either personal or by publication. The creditor must support his claim by affidavit. A creditor not consenting to the assignment may garnishee the assignee for the balance in his hands.

Arkansas. - Assignments may be general or partial, with or without preferences, and where all the debtor's property is conveyed, he may exact releases as a condition of preference. Corporations cannot prefer creditors. Assignments are vitiated by the fraud of the assignor alone or by any provision varying from the requirements of the statute. Title vests in the assignee, not only as against the assignor, but also as against the execution creditors, without registration. The assignee shall take possession of the property immediately, and care for the same and make an inventory, and within 10 days file, in the office of the clerk of the court exercising equity jurisdiction in the county, a full and complete inventory and description of the property, and execute a bond to the state. The assignee must file annual accounts current with the court. He must sell the property at public auction, within 120 days after the execution of the bond, giving 30 days' notice of time and place of sale, and persons injured can sue on the assignee's bond.

California. -An insolvent debtor may in good faith execute an assignment of property to the sheriff of the county in which he resides, in trust for the satisfaction of his creditors, subject, however, to the provisions of law relative to trusts and fraudulent transfers. An assignment is void against any creditor not assenting thereto, if it give a preference of one debt or class of debts over another, or tend to coerce any creditor to release or compromise his demand, or provide for the payment of any claim known to the assignor to be false or fraudulent, or for the payment of more upon any claim than is known to be justly due from the assignor, or reserve any interest in the assigned property, or any part thereof, to the assignor, or confer upon the assignee any power which, if exercised, might prevent or delay the immediate conversion of the assigned property for the purposes of the trust, or exempt him from liability for neglect of duty or misconduct. The assignment must be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the assignor resides, or in which is his principal place of business, or if he have no such residence or place of business, in the county where the property is located. Within 20 days after an assignment, the assignor must file a verified inventory showing all his creditors, the amount due each, and all his property. The sheriff must take possession and custody of the property, and give notice to the creditors, who, on the day specified, meet and elect an assignee, to whom the sheriff transfers the property and who thereafter administers the trust, requiring proof of all claims and applying the property to the satisfaction of them ratably. At any time after the expiration of 30 days from the publication of notice to the creditors, the assignee may declare and pay dividends to all creditors whose claims have been presented and allowed.

Colorado. - Any person, copartnership, or corporation may make a general assignment, which to be valid must be for the benefit of all creditors without preferences. The assignment must be filed for record in the office of the clerk and recorder of the county where the assignor resides, or, if a non-resident, where his principal place of business is in this state. The assignor shall, within 4 days, render to the assignee a verified inventory of his assets, creditors, and the amount due them. The assignee, within 6 days after recording, must file a verified inventory of the property that has come to his knowledge, and give bond. He shall then give notice in a newspaper in the county for 4 weeks, and send notice by mail to each creditor to present his I claim within 3 months. Claims filed within such 3 months shall have precedence, unless the creditor show that he did not receive such notice. At the expiration of 3 months, the assignee, on filing a statement of his proceedings, may declare a dividend. Claims of servants, laborers, and employes for wages earned during 6 months next preceding the date of the assignment, not to exceed $50 to any one

person, and all taxes assessed under the laws of the state or the United States, shall be paid in full prior to the payment of dividends in favor of other creditors. The assignee shall close his trust within 1 year from the filing of the assignment, unless the court, for good cause shown, extend the time. The debtor desiring to be discharged shall, at any time after 3 months and within 1 year of the filing of the assignment, file his application for his discharge. The order for the creditors to show cause why the debtor shall not be discharged shall be published for 4 weeks, and notice shall be mailed to each creditor within 5 days. On hearing, the court may then discharge the debtor as to all creditors who have received notice, or who have taken part in the proceedings, except as to debts due in a fiduciary capacity or in consequence of defalcation as a public officer.

Connecticut. – Preferences are not allowed, except claims for personal services, and costs of attachments and of executions dissolved by such assignment. An assignment must be lodged for record in the office of the court of probate for the district where the assignor or assignees or some of them reside; if the assignment be recorded before the lien of a creditor attaches, it will avail against it. The probate court will cause public notice to be given, and upon hearing will approve the trustee selected by the debtor or appoint another. All attachments and incomplete levies of execution commencing within 60 days of the filing of such assignment are dissolved thereby. At a meeting of creditors for the purpose, two commissioners are appointed by the probate court to receive and decide upon claims against the debtor's estate and report the same to the court. Notice of said appointment is sent to all known creditors and the time is limited (not less than 3 nor more than 6 months) for the presentation of claims. Appeal from the doings of commissioners within 1 month lies to the superior court, if the claim exceed $50. Claims for personal services rendered within 3 months to the amount of $100 will be allowed as preferred. The debtor may be allowed, for the support of his family, a sum not exceeding $3 per week for each member and not exceeding $15 per week in the whole, for such time not exceeding 6 months, as the court may order. If no reservation of cash were made in the deed of assignment, the court may allow the debtor a further sum, not exceeding $100; and, if the estate pay more than 50 per cent. on final settlement, the court may order payment to the debtor of 25 per cent. of such excess, provided it shall not exceed $1,000. The court will direct payment of claims in the following order: Expenses of settlement, taxes, and debts to the state and the United States, cost of attaching and levying creditors, such claims allowed by commissioners as are to be paid in full, and other claims allowed in proportion to their amounts. The debtor gets no discharge unless the estate pay 70 per cent. or more on the claims allowed.

Delaware. - Such assignments are rare in this state. Insolvents may prefer such creditors as they desire by giving them judgments. There is no provision in the act for a discharge of the debtor.

District of Columbia. - Assignments may be made, but without preferences.

Florida. - The selection and appointment as assignee of any person related by consanguinity or affinity to the assignor is prohibited. Preferences are not allowed. All property, except that exempt, must be transferred to the assignee. The assignment must be recorded in the clerk's office of the county or counties where the assigned property is situated. The assignor must within 10 days make and subscribe an oath that he has placed all his property except his exemption in the hands of his assignee for equal distribution among his creditors. The assignor must publish for 4 weeks a notice to creditors, and mail a notice to each. If the creditors reside within the state, they must file their claims within 60 days thereafter; if beyond the state, within 4 months. The assignee is required to file semiannually a sworn statement of his transactions. The assignment does

not release the debtor from debts not satisfied by it.

Georgia. - An insolvent debtor, except limited partnerships if made with a view of insolvency or while insolvent, and except corporations, may prefer creditors. Conveyances of every kind made with intent to delay or defraud creditors, where such intent was known to the party taking, and assignments reserving any trust or benefit to an insolvent, are void as to existing creditors. Creditors must be notified by the assignee of the filing of the assignment within 30 days. Preferred debts are not to be paid until 60 days after the filing of the assignment.

Idaho. - No assignments are valid except those made on petition and on proceedings in the district court of the county where the debtor resides. No preferences are allowed.

Illinois. - The assignment must be acknowledged and recorded in the county where the debtor resides, and where the business in respect to which the assignment is made is carried on, and in the county or counties where any land assigned is situated. Provisions for the payment of one creditor in preference to another are void, and all debts are to be paid pro rata. This statute renders wholly void any disposition of the debtor's property by way of preference of one debtor over another, by confession of judgment, or by an actual transfer by the debtor, where such disposition of the debtor's property is made after he has determined to make an assignment for the benefit of his creditors. The property so transferred or disposed of may be recovered by the assignee. The assignee must give notice by publication

in a newspaper within the county for 6 weeks, and by mail to each creditor, to present their claims under oath within 3 months. He must file in the county court a sworn inventory and valuation of the estate assigned. At the first term after the 3 months allowed for presenting claims, where no exceptions are filed, or if such as are made be disposed of, the assignee is ordered by the court to make an equal dividend among the creditors, except as to claims due to laborers and servants, whose debts are preferred in payment, and within 1 year thereafter the assignee is required to render final account. In case of the death, or the failure of an assignee to qualify within 20 days after the assignment, the court may appoint another, and he may be removed for waste or misapplication of the trust estate. The debtor may be examined on oath touching his estate. Claims not presented within 3 months from the publication of notice cannot participate in the dividends until all claims presented within that time are paid in full. The assignment, and all the proceedings under it, may be superseded upon the assent in writing of the debtor and a majority of his creditors in number and amount, and thereupon all parties are remitted to the rights and duties existing at the date of the assignment, except so far as such estate shall have been already administered and disposed of.

Indian Territory. - Assignments may be made of all or a part of the property of a debtor. Preferences are not allowed. The assignee must file an inventory and give bond. Property must be sold within 120 days at public auction, upon 30 days' notice.

Indiana. - The act does not prevent preferences by direct transfers of property or by assignment of all or part of the assignor's property for the benefit of part of his creditors, but it is intended simply to regulate assignments of the debtor's entire estate intended to be for the benefit of all his creditors, in which case the law must be complied with or the assignment will be void. The deed of assignment must be filed for record in the office of the recorder of the county in which the assignor resides within 10 days after its execution, and no title passes to the assignee until this has been done. The trustee must qualify within 15 days. If he fail to act, the court may appoint a substitute upon petition. The trustee named may be removed by the court on the petition of creditors representing in amount one-half of the liabilities of the debtor. The court may order the examination under oath of the debtor as to the conduct of his business for 6 months preceding the assignment. The debtor is not discharged from his liabilities.

Iowa. - Preferences are not allowed. Taxes, however, have priority, and after payment of these, the earnings of any creditor for his personal services shall be a preferred claim, if such services were rendered to the assignor at any time within 90 days preceding the

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