POST AND ANTE-NUPTIAL SETTLEMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 3271, 14 August 1873, Page 3

POST AND ANTE-NUPTIAL SETTLEMENTS.

(From the New Zealand Herald.) “ The bankrupt, a few months previous to his declaration of insolvency, had settled the whole of his property on his wife, who is now in another part of the Colony, by which the estate has been deprived of what would have constituted a very large asset,” Such are the words we quote from a Dunedin morning journal, as a concluding" paragraph of a report of the official trustee, in a case where the insolvent game up to apply for a final release from his pecuniary liabilities. This is no solitary case, for we read from week to week of many similar to it. Men, in anticipation of what may happen, oftentimes what they know is certain to happen, realise upon their assets, which are more frequently the property of their creditors than their own. The proceeds from these they “ settle” on their wives, and then snap their fingers at their creditors. This was for long a tune-honored fashion in Victoria, until the Legislature interfered and surrounded it with obstacles'that were troublesome, and penalties that were dangerous to the liberty of the subject, Rost-nuptial settlements are now boooming so common in this Colony, and made for such obvious purposes that of defrauding creditors—that we trust to see the question of the right of permitting such convenient arrangements between a man and his wife discussed in the present session of the Assembly, in order that legislative action may be taken ; for we know of nothing which more conduces to reckless trading, commercial dishonesty, or wild speculation, than these marriage settlements. A man, without he is well-principled, seldom draws up in his trading pursuits upon finding his affairs upon the debit side of profit and loss. Hejis “all right;” because should “ matters come to the worst,” his wife’s property, or her income, will always enable him to maintain a comfortable position. It appears to us there is

something so ultra dishonest in this, and worse still, because it is so common, and looked upon as a sort of matter of course, thiit the machinery of our Legislature should at once be set in motion to prevent a continuance of the wrong.

Ante-nuptial settlements may on occasions be proper enough ; because a woman may say that she will only give herself away upon certain conditions being fulfilled iu her interest, or in the interests of the offspring which may follow her marriage. She, in hue, makes a bargain, and states the condition upon which onty she will enter upon the married state. Exception, perhaps, may not be taken against an arrangement so very prudent on tho part of the female. But, as a rule, ante-nuptial settlements are proposed by the man. hie says in substance, “ 1 cannot tell what may happen to me in my business career, so I shall protect myself against my creditors by settling all I possess upon my wife ” An arrangement of this kind is equally dishonest; and there is something very cowardly in a man who can allow the claims of his creditors to be ignored while he hangs on to the skirts of his wife as his support in after life. We may also assert that few right-minded women will care to see the honor and credit of a husband compromised if she has the means herself of redeeming either or both. We believe that in nine eases out of ten such settlements as we have referred to are made by men with the intention of defrauding their creditors ; and in the interest of creditors, and in that of commercial morality, we urge that these settlements in the future should be declared illegal. A husband is by law responsible for the liabilities his wife may incur during coverture—for her extravagances, her reckless or unnecessary expenditure—and it is but right that the wife to the full extent of her property should be made responsible for the liabilities of her husband, no matter how they may have been incurred.

There is also another evil connected with such settlements. They are invariably kept a profound secret. Men make it understood that their present position is due to themselves ; that they live on their own means, and are independent of the world, and so manage to obtain a large amount of credit, which would not be given if it were known that an estate meant simply a wife’s income under a marriage settlement. It is not a pleasant sight, but it is one not altogether unknown in Auckland, to see a ruined creditor walking the streets broken down in body and mind, while his debtor rides past oim secure from consequences by “ my wife’s marriage settlement.” We trust to see the subject rank as one among others which will be taken up when the question of “ Law Reform ” is introduced into the Assembly, as was promised last session.