B.C. couple transferred property to son to avoid paying $400K in court-ordered damages, judge rules

A Vancouver Island couple's transfer of their home to their son has been ruled a "fraudulent conveyance."

A Vancouver Island couple's transfer of their home to their son has been ruled a "fraudulent conveyance."

Hai Huang and his wife Ying Gao transferred the title to their home on Dover Road in Nanaimo to their son Tian Long Huang in fall 2016, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision issued earlier this week. 

The consideration paid for the transfer was "$1 and natural love and affection." At the time, the decision indicates, the home's assessed value was $485,000. It has since risen to $993,000, according to BC Assessment. 

The transfer occurred while Hai Huang was the defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by Jian He over an assault Huang committed against He in 2013. In early 2018, a jury awarded He $447,450 in damages in that case.

He was also the plaintiff in the latest case, arguing that Huang and Gao had transferred the property to their son in order to prevent him from targeting the home as a means of collecting the damages he was owed.

This week's decision indicates that Huang has not made any payments toward the damages since they were awarded.

Huang, Gao and their son told the court the transfer was legitimate and had been made for estate planning reasons and to honour Chinese customs, but Justice Robin A. M. Baird disagreed, finding that the transaction was a fraudulent conveyance.