In re the Estate of Miller

61 N.W. 229, 92 Iowa 741
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 17, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 61 N.W. 229 (In re the Estate of Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Estate of Miller, 61 N.W. 229, 92 Iowa 741 (iowa 1894).

Opinion

Rothrock, J.

John F. Miller died at Huntingdon, in the state of Pennsylvania, on the twenty-fourth day [742]*742of August, 1893. He was an unmarried man and a bachelor, and had resided at Huntingdon for more than twenty years. He left an estate valued at from seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollars. About thirty-six thousand dollars of his estate, consisting of money and notes and other securities, is situated in this state. These assets of the estate were in possession of W. W. Miller, appellee, at the city of Waterloo. John F. Miller made his last will and testament on the eighteenth day of October, 1880, in which he appointed William Dorris, appellant herein, to be executor of said will. On the third day of May, 1888, he executed a codicil to his will, and on April 5, 1892, he made a second codicil to said will. These codicils made material changes in the original instrument, some of which evidently occurred by the death of one or more of the legatees, and other provisions were made by reason of a change in the intention of the testator as to the persons he selected as objects of his bounty. But no change was made in the appointment of the executor. On the contrary, by the last codicil William Dorris was again named as his executor, and appointed as a trustee to manage and control a legacy of five thousand dollars and to pay the interest thereof to legatees named, and at their death to pay the principal to the board of relief for disabled ministers of the Presbyterian church. The will was duly admitted to probate, and Dorris was commissioned as executor at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on the ninth day of September, 1893. Before that, Dorris notified the appellee, Miller, by letter, that he was executor, and requested Miller to forward him all papers belonging to the estate. Miller answered this letter on the ninth day of September, 1893, and informed Dorris that he, Miller, had been appointed-administrator of the-personal property of the estate in the state of Iowa. Dorris procured a copy of the will and the record of the probate thereof in Pennsylvania, [743]*743properly authenticated, and proceeded to have the same probated in this state, as provided in section 2351 of the Code, by commencing proceedings in the court below to have the will admitted to probate, and on the twenty-ninth day of September the same was duly admitted to probate as provided by law. On the third day of October following, Dorris moved for an order granting to him ancillary letters as executor, and to set aside the letters of administration previously granted to appellee, Miller. The motions were sustained on the twenty-fifth day of October, 1893, and on the same day Dorris was appointed executor under said will, and an order was made that letters should issue to him upon his filing a bond in the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars, with sureties thereon to be residents of this state, and the letters previously issued to Miller were revoked. The bond of Dorris was not filed within ten days from the date of the order, and on the eighth day of November, 1893, appellee, Miller, made an application that he be appointed executor of the will, on the ground that the position or office was vacant, because Dorris had failed to qualify as executor by filing a bond and taking the oath of office within ten days, as provided by law. This motion was made and heard without notice to Dorris or his attorney, and it was sustained, and Miller was appointed administrator with the will annexed. Afterward, and on the twenty-first day of December, 1893, Dorris filed his petition to set aside the appointment of Miller and for letters to issue to Dorris as executor. This petition set out at length the reasons why the bond was not filed and oath of office taken within ten days. All of this part of the petition was stricken out on motion, and Miller then demurred to the petition. The demurrer was sustained, and Dorris elected to stand on his petition, and it was dismissed at his cost.

[744]*7441 [745]*7452 [743]*743We will not set out at length the matters of excuse [744]*744pleaded by Dorris for his failure to sooner file his bond and take the oath as executor. It is sufficient to say that he showed that he exercised all reasonable diligence, taking into consideration that he is. a resident of a distant state, and was not acquainted with persons in this state having the requisite qualifications for sureties on so large a bond. He averred in his petition that he had procured sureties, and his bond had been duly presented to the clerk of the court who was ready and willing to approve the same. After the motion to strike from the petition was sustained, the only real question left for determination was whether the office was vacant for the reason that Dorris did not qualify in ten days. Much of the arguments of counsel are directed to that feature of the case. It is provided by section 2347 of the Code: “If a person appointed executor refuses to accept the trust or neglects to appear within ten days after his appointment and give bond as hereinafter prescribed or if an executor removes his residence from the state a vacancy will be deemed to have occurred.” This section is found in chapter 2, title 16, of the Code, under the head of “Executors — Trustees.” In the same chapter and title (section 2352), under the head of “Foreign Wills,” the following language is found: “All provisions of law relating to the carrying into effect of domestic wills after probate shall so far as applicable apply to foreign wills admitted to probate in this state as contemplated in the preceding section.” We refer to the Code of 1873, as it was adopted by the fourteenth general assembly, and published as provided by an act of that body found on pages 741, 742, and 743 of the authorized edition. The contention of counsel for appellee is that the proyision declaring a vacancy is applicable to executors under both foreign and domestic wills. Section 2352 it seems to us is quite comprehensive in the use of the words “so far as applicable.” There is, or [745]*745at least ought to be, no question that the executor appointed by the testator, in the absence of disqualification, should be commissioned by the court. Pickering v. Weiting, 47 Iowa, 242. The statute (Code, section 2354) provides that where an executor is not appointed by will, administration shall be granted to some other person. Surely where an executor of a foreign will, duly appointed by the testator, and the appointment confirmed by letters issued to him in the foreign jurisdiction, ought to have preference over any other in the matter of ancillary administration. Section 2368 of the Code, cited by counsel for appellee, does not appear to be applicable to this case. That is a provision for the appointmen t of an administrator of a deceased intestate, and not a case where a foreign executor, appointed by will, co mplies with section 2351 of the Code. In our jud gment, the court below should have overruled the motion to strike the parts of the petition which unquestionably showed that it presented good and sufficient grounds for the failure to file the bond and take the oath within ten days, because under the facts the limitation of ten days is not applicable to the proceedings after probate of this foreign will. His right to execute the will as against the claim of the appellee was sustained when the appellee was removed and appellant appointed, and no doubt it would have been sustained by the court on the last application but for the thought that the lapse of ten days absolutely created a vacancy.

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Bluebook (online)
61 N.W. 229, 92 Iowa 741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-miller-iowa-1894.