Rinaudo v. Wakefield

77 P.2d 290, 25 Cal. App. 2d 235, 1938 Cal. App. LEXIS 796
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 3, 1938
DocketCiv. No. 1889
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 77 P.2d 290 (Rinaudo v. Wakefield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rinaudo v. Wakefield, 77 P.2d 290, 25 Cal. App. 2d 235, 1938 Cal. App. LEXIS 796 (Cal. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an appeal from an order denying appellant’s petition for an order requiring the administrator of this estate to pay to her for the benefit of the above-named minors an accrued family allowance in the amount of $1225.

Costanzo Monge died on September 7, 1924, and letters were issued in his estate on November 18, 1924. On" February 13, 1925, an order was made granting to his widow a family allowance of $125 per month commencing September 7, 1924, and continuing until the further order of the court. The widow remarried and on September 25, 1925, after due proceedings, an order was made granting to the appellant, as guardian of the minor children of the decedent, a family allowance of $150 per month commencing as of September 9, 1925, and continuing until further" order by the court. On March 1, 1929, Bank of Italy National Trust & Savings Association, a creditor of said estate, filed a petition for a reduction or termination of said family allowance alleging that said estate was then insolvent. A hearing was held at which all interested parties appeared and on March 8, 1929, an order was made reducing the family allowance to be paid for the benefit of said minors to $100 per month and ordering that amount paid monthly in advance commencing with March 9, 1929. Payments were made in accordance with this order to and including December 9, 1932. Between that date and January 12, 1934, nothing was paid except the sum of $75, leaving an accrued family allowance as of the latter date of $1225. On January 16, 1934, responsive to proceedings duly had, the court set aside to said minors a probate homestead and further ordered that said family allowance “be discontinued from and after the 12th day of January, 1934”.

Thereafter, the appellant, as guardian of said minor children, filed a petition asking that the administrator be required to pay said accrued and unpaid family allowance. Answers were filed denying that the administrator had sufficient cash on hand to pay said sum or any sum to said minors, and alleging that the estate was and had been insolvent at all times during the course of administration. The court found that $4,771.86 was then in the hands of the administrator, that all expenses of administration had been [237]*237paid except the sum of $300 as attorney’s fees, that claims had been allowed aggregating about $27,000 which had not been paid, that from December 9, 1932, up to January 12, 1934, family allowance in the sum of $1225 accrued in favor of said minors and had not been paid, and that on January 12, 1934, the court “did then terminate said family allowance”. It was further found “that on the 9th day of December, 1932, the estate of said decedent was insolvent, and that said estate continued to be insolvent and is now insolvent”. An order was made denying the petition and this appeal followed.

The appellant contends that the court erred in admitting evidence with reference to the insolvency of the estate and in making its order denying the petition. It is argued that the finding that the estate was insolvent on December 9, 1932, constitutes a review by the trial court of a previous adjudication by the same court, that the question of insolvency was presented and passed upon by the court in making its order of March 8,, 1929, that that order became final and had the effect of a money judgment, that said order was valid and in full force until regularly set aside, and that the order setting it aside could not be given a retroactive effect. The respondents contend that notwithstanding the wording of an order granting a family allowance under section 1466 of the Code of Civil Procedure (now sec. 680 of the Probate Code), there is an implied provision therein, arising out of said code section, that any such payments shall continue for only one year from the granting of letters if the estate is insolvent, that if at any time after the making of an order for family allowance the estate becomes insolvent the court is without power to enforce the payment of any family allowance which accumulates after said year, and that the question of insolvency of the estate may be brought to the court’s attention at any time and does not constitute a collateral attack upon any orders theretofore made with respect to the payment of a family allowance.

The respondents rely upon Estate of Montgomery, 60 Cal. 648, and Estate of Treat, 162 Cal. 250 [121 Pac. 1003]. In Estate of Montgomery, supra, upon the application of creditors, a family allowance was discontinued and no attempt was made to make the order of discontinuance retroactive. In Estate of Treat, supra, the court held that a determination of [238]*238the question of solvency or insolvency was not necessarily involved in making an order for family allowance within a year after the granting of letters and that a finding or adjudication on that point is not to be implied in the absence of express terms showing such an intention. The right of creditors to oppose the payment of a family allowance for more than one year, in such a case, by showing that the estate was insolvent was sustained on the grounds and for the reasons that the question of solvency had not been passed upon, that the provision of the code section was to be considered a part of the order as made, and that the cutting off of the allowance at the end of a year was not a change of the original order but was the carrying out of a limitation contained therein. But the court recognized the distinction between the case then before it and one where the question of solvency had been determined by the order for a family allowance, and in commenting on the case of Estate of Bell, 131 Cal. 1 [63 Pac. 81, 668], said:

“On the settlement of an» executor’s account, objections were made to items consisting of sums of money paid by the executor to the widow under orders of the court for family allowance made years after the granting of letters, and after the widow had been paid a large allowance for years under a prior order. The ground of objection was that the estate was insolvent when such subsequent orders were made. It seems to be implied in the opinion that if such could be shown to be the case, the court must be held to be without jurisdiction to make the order, doubtless because the allowance granted thereby was for a period during which no allowance could be made in view of the limitation contained in section 1466 of the Code of Civil Procedure. But it was very properly held that under such circumstances, solvency of the estate being a prerequisite to the making of any order at all, the making of the order was necessarily a finding and adjudication that the estate was then solvent, which, of course, could not be attacked collaterally.0 The distinction between that ease and this is obvious.”

In Estate of Bell, supra, an order for the payment of a family allowance was made prior to the return of the inventory. About three years later, on the petition of creditors, the amount allowed was reduced. About three years later the amount was again reduced. Upon the hearing of [239]*239the final account the creditors objected to the amounts paid under the two later orders for family allowance on the ground that these orders were void by reason of the fact that the estate was insolvent when they were made. In holding that a valid order for a family allowance could not be thus attacked, the court said:

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Bluebook (online)
77 P.2d 290, 25 Cal. App. 2d 235, 1938 Cal. App. LEXIS 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rinaudo-v-wakefield-calctapp-1938.