Anderson v. Northrop

44 Fla. 472
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 44 Fla. 472 (Anderson v. Northrop) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Northrop, 44 Fla. 472 (Fla. 1902).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This cause being reached i,n its regular order for final adjudication, was referred by the court to its commissioners for investigation, who report that the 'decrees appealed from ought to be reversed.

Upon a former appeal in this cause (Anderson v. Northrop, 30 Fla. 612, 12 South. Rep. 318) it was decided,, among other things^ that the complanants and the defendants Crafts named in the bill of complaint were entitled to a decree for their respectiye shares and interests according to the provisions- of the will of Andrew Anderson, iSr., in and' to all of the real estate included in the deed from William A. Forward to Clarissa O. Anderson that was found in her possession and the title to which was standing in her name at the time of her decease, and in and to all of the lands mortgaged to her as executrix by Peter Sken Smith and which she bought at tax sale, the title to which remained in her at her decease; that defendant Andrew Anderson as her executor should account to them for them proportionate parts of the rents, incomes and profits of all such real estate as remained in her name from the date of her idteoease, with the legal accumulation of interest thereon since that date; that the cause should be referred to a master to ascertain and report what portions of said real estate that was conveyed to Clarissa C. Anderson by William A. Forward, and by said tax deed of the Peter Sken Smith lands, have been sold and conveyed by her to other parties and the prices [477]*477at which she sold the same, with interest thereon from the date of her decease, and that defendant Andrew Anderson as her executor should account to complainants and the defendants Crafts for their respective shares and proportionate parts thereof according to the provisions of the will of Andrew Anderson, Sr. The Circuit Court in pursuance of the decision of this court referred the cause to a master to take andl state an account as indicated in the -opinion filed by this court, and the master having heard the testimony produced by the parties, filed his report in 1894. All parties having-filed exceptions to this report, the court referred! the cause to the master a second time requiring him to take and state the account according to certain specific directions therein given. On June 9, 1896, the master, after having taken more testimony, filed his second report which was excepted to in various particulars by the respective parties. The court overruled all exceptions and on October 9, 1897, entered a decree which, after reciting that it appeared by the record! that Andrew Anderson had acquired by conveyance and assignment to him1 all the interest of the defendants Crafts and their trustee thereby concentrating 'in him (including his own interest as a devisee) a five-eights interest in the estate -of Andrew Anderson, Sr., and that complainants owned the remaining three-eights interest in said estate, decreed to complainants $3,164.22 with interest from June 9, 1896, against Andrew Anderson executor, to be made out of the goods and chattels of ■Clarissa C. Anderson, deceased, as their three,-eigtlis interest in the proceeds of the -sales of the Forward and Smith lands- received by Clarissa C. Anderson in- her lifetime, with interest calculated thereon with annual rests from the time of her death, and also decreed to- com[478]*478plain ants $12,214.72 with interest from, June 9, 1896, against Andrew Anderson ¡individually as their thi*eeeights interest in the net rents, incomes and profits of the land known as the Markland cottage tract and Ponce de Leon gardens, with simple interest thereon. From this decree both parties have appealed, and have assigned as error divers matters relating to the second decree of reference and the final decree, and many errors alleged to have been committed by the master in his allowance and refusal to allow various items upon the accounting had before him embraced in '¡exceptions to his report. We shall confine our decision to the matters insisted’upon in the briefs andl oral arguments.

I. It ¡is insisted by defendant, first, that no interest should have been allowed either upon the ¡sums received by Clarissa C. Anderson in her lifetime from sales of the Forward and Smith lands, or upon the rents, incomes and profits received by defendant from those portions of said lands remaining unsold at the time of her death; and second, that ¡if interest is to he allowed at all it was error to compute it with annual rests upon the-sums received by Clarissa 0. Anderson from sales of lands. On the other hand, it is ¡insisted by complainants that interest with annual rests was properly allowed upon the sums received by Clarissa C. An¡d<erson from sales of lands, and should also have been allowed with annual rests, ¡upon the rents, incomes a.nd profits received by defendant after her death. By the decision of this court upon the former appeal the dlefendant was decree,d.to account for the proceeds of the sales of land by Clarissa 0. Anderson “with interest thereon from- the date of her decease,” and [479]*479for the rents, incomes and profits of all of such real estate as remained in her name from the date of her decease, “with the legal accumulation of interest thereon since that díate.” That decision is the law of the case, and is a conclusive answer to the contention that no interest should have been allowed. As that decision does not determine whether simple interest or interest with annual rests is to be allowed, we think that question is an open one and shall proceed to consider it.

Counsel for complainants insist that under' section 1930 Rev. Stats, and various decisions of this court, beginning with Young v. McKinne, 5 Fla. 543, in stating an account against a.n administrator or executor annual rests are to be made and interest charged on the balance found due at the period of each rest, and that this rule is applicable to the present case, both as to sums received from sales of land and as to rents, incomes and profits. As will be seen from the former decision of this court, all of the property of Andrew Anderson, Senior, was devised to his wife Clarissa C. Anderson for life. Even after the sale of the lands, for the proceeds of which her executor is required to accoxint, she was entitled to, the proceeds and the use thereof for her life, and 'she was under no duty as executrix to account for or pay any interest thereon for the benefit of her husband’s estate or the complaiants as his legatees. She was, therefore, not required during her executorship to account for sxxcb proceeds with annual rests, but only for the principal at the time of her death. It never became her duty to invest the money for the benefit of complainants, because it wUs only upon and after her death that complainants became entitled to the. money or to have it invested for their benefit. Had the money remained on hand at the time of her [480]*480death, it would have been the duty of her executor to pay it over to complainants, but the tact is, the money never came to his hands and itj therefore, never became hi.s duty to invest it, .nor could any balance thereof remain in his hands annually which he .could retain or invest so as to charge him with interest with annual rests. Having spent the money in her lifetime, the complainants upon her dieath became enttled to recover from Mrs. Anderson’s estate the principal sum wi,th simple interest from the date of her death, like any other creditor of her estate, and the rule invoked as .to annual rests does not apply Neither do we think the rule applies to interest upon the rents, incomes and profits.

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Bluebook (online)
44 Fla. 472, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-northrop-fla-1902.