Estate of Lamb

6 Coffey 432
CourtCalifornia Superior Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1910
DocketNo. 9488 (N. S.)
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Coffey 432 (Estate of Lamb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Lamb, 6 Coffey 432 (Cal. Super. Ct. 1910).

Opinion

COFFEY, J.

The estate is appraised at $20,813.39.

The inventory and appraisement show the following items r

One parcel real property........................$8,500.00
Policy of insurance payable to estate.............. 2,430.00
436 shares Pacific Oil Field stock................ 2,180.00
Interest in Balfour-Guthrie & Co.................. 7,000.00
Fox Tail stock.................................. 100.00
Cash....................................... ,344.74
Yacht...................................... 325.00

The will, in its essential features, is as follows:

Bequeaths one-half of the estate to Annie Maria Lamb, the widow-.
Bequeaths one-fourth of the estate to Mrs. Losee, a sister.
Bequeaths one-fourth of the estate to Miss Lamb, an unmarried sister.

Further on in the will it is said:

‘ ‘ The share that goes to my sister Agnes (Mrs. Losee) is to be held in trust by her for my nephews, Edwin Lamb Losee and James K. Losee, and niece, Agnes Mary Marian Losee,. equally.”

By order of this court heretofore made, the parcel of real property appraised at $8,500 was set apart to the widow absolutely as a probate homestead.

Subtracting this item from the inventory there remains in the estate approximately $12,300.

The will also contains a specific bequest of the policy of life insurance made payable to the estate and appraised at $2,430, to the widow. Substracting this, there remains in the estate proper approximately $10,000.

The total expenses of administration, including claims presented against the estate, commissions, etc., are estimated at $2,800. Subtracting this amount there remains in the descendible portion of the estate, approximately $7,000. [434]*434Upon this basis of $7,000 we must proceed to determine the amounts due to the general legatees. The will is one that comes within the principle laid down in the case of In re Gilmore, 81 Cal. 240, 22 Pac. 655, wherein it is held that: “A general devise of all the property of which the testator may die possessed without naming any specific property, ap plies only to his moiety of the community property.”

The widow is not compelled to elect whether she will take her community interest or her interest under the will, but may take both: See, also, Estate of Stewart, 74 Cal. 98, 15 Pac. 445; Estate of Smith, 108 Cal. 115, 40 Pac. 1037; Estate of Silvey, 42 Cal. 210.

Therefore, of the $7,000 above referred to the widow takes one-half as her community interest. Subtracting this half, to wit, the sum of $3,500, it will appear that but $3,500 of the estate was subject to the testamentary disposition of the deceased at the time of his death. Of this $3,500, therefore, Mrs. Lamb, the widow, takes one-half and the two sisters take a quarter apiece, or the sum of $875 each.

Both of the sisters have assigned their interest to Mrs. Lamb, the'widow, petitioner herein.

The basis of the petitioner’s claim upon th'e estate may be summed up as follows:

1. Absolute homestead......*......................$8,500
(This has already been given to her.)
2. Specifically bequeathed insurance policy.......... 2,430
3. Community interest............................. 3,500
4. Interest under will............................... 1,750
5. Interest assigned by Miss Lamb............,n..... 875
6. Interest assigned by Mrs. Losee.................. 875

By the petition, it is sought to have the court distribute to Mrs. Lamb the sum of $7,000, more particularly the item noted in the inventory as “interest in Balfour-Guthrie & Co.,” appraised at $7,000.

[435]*435THE STATUTORY NOTICE HAVING BEEN GIVEN, THE COURT HAS JURISDICTION, AND MINORS AS WELL AS ADULTS ARE BOUND.

Upon the first hearing of the petition the question was raised as to whether in this proceeding and upon the ordinary-notice in a partial distribution proceeding, the court has jurisdiction to determine the invalidity of a trust clause in the will in favor of minors absent from the state.

Section 1659, Code of Civil Procedure, which defines the notice to be given of the hearing of a petition for partial distribution, provides as follows: “Notice of the application must be given to the executor or administrator, personally, and to all persons interested in the estate, in the same manner that notice is required to be given of the settlement of the account of an executor or administrator.”

The notice that is required to be given to all persons interested in the estate by the above section is said to be the same as that required upon the settlement of an account of an executor or administrator. The notice required upon such an occasion is defined by section 1633, Code of Civil Procedure.

Section 1633, Code of Civil Procedure, is as follows: “When any account is rendered for settlement, the clerk of the court must appoint a day for the settlement thereof, and thereupon give notice thereof by causing notices to be posted in at least three public placés in the county, setting forth the name of the estate, the executor, or administrator, and the day appointed for settlement of the account. If, upon the final hearing at the time of settlement, the court, or a judge thereof, should deem the notice insufficient from any cause, he may order such further notice to be given as may seem to him proper. ’ ’

There being no other statutory requirements for notice, and partial distribution being entirely a statutory matter, it must be held that the court has full and complete jurisdiction if the requirements of the above sections are fulfilled.

[436]*436The executor was served with a duly issued citation, proof of service of which is on file. So, also, notice was posted pursuant to section 1633.

That nonresident legatees are bound by decree of partial distribution the requirements of sections 1659 and 1633 having been met, although they have had no personal notice, is held in In re Jessup, 81 Cal. 409; at page 437, 21 Pac. 976, 22 Pac. 742, 1028, 6 L. R. A. 594, where the question was fully discussed.

It is held in Hodgdon v. Southern Pac. Ry. Co., 75 Cal. 642, at page 648, 17 Pac. 928, that where the statutory requirements of a guardianship proceeding are met, all parties are bound thereby, including minors as well as adults, and the case of Joyce v. McAvoy, 31 Cal. 274, 89 Am. Dec. 172, is cited to this effect. In the latter case the question was thoroughly discussed and gone into as to whether under the law of California an infant can be bound without having been allowed a day in court, and the conclusion was reached that an infant defendant is as much bound by a decree in equity as a person of full age and will not be permitted to dispute it except upon the same grounds as an adult might have disputed it.

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6 Coffey 432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-lamb-calsuperct-1910.