State ex rel. McKennan v. District Court

222 P. 426, 69 Mont. 340, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 4
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 11, 1924
DocketNo. 5,434
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 222 P. 426 (State ex rel. McKennan v. District Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. McKennan v. District Court, 222 P. 426, 69 Mont. 340, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 4 (Mo. 1924).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE STARK

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an application for a writ of supervisory control. It appears from relator’s petition that on the eighth day of July, 1922, the last will and testament of John N. W. Bielenberg was admitted to probate in the district court of Powell county and letters testamentary were issued to him, he being named in said will as the executor thereof, and that thereupon he took charge and possession of the property of the said deceased; that within one year after the will was admitted to probate and such letters testamentary issued, Charles P. H. Bielenberg and Nicholas J. Bielenberg, brothers of the deceased, filed their complaint or petition contesting the validity of the will upon the grounds that John N. W. Bielenberg was not at the time of making the same of sound or disposing mind, and that it was executed under undue influence and fraud, and praying that the probate thereof be revoked; that issues were joined upon the allegations of said petitioners, a jury trial had, and on the twenty-fourth day of November, 1923, the jury rendered its finding and verdict to the effect that the said John N. W. Bielenberg was incompetent to make a will at the time of the execution of the instrument which had theretofore been admitted to probate; that on said day a judgment was rendered in accordance with said verdict, declaring said will invalid for the reason that said John N. "W. Bielenberg was incompetent at the time of the execution of the same, revoking the probate of said will, and also revoking the letters testamentary theretofore issued to relator; that on the thirtieth day of November, 1923, the relator and other defendants in said contest proceedings served their notice of intention to [342]*342move for a new trial; that on said day, and after the filing of said notice of intention to move for a new trial, an application, based upon a request made and filed by Charles P. H. Bielenberg and Nicholas J. Bielenberg, was made for the appointment of W. F. Gullette and Arthur J. Lochrie as special administrators of said estate; and that thereupon the relator presented and filed his application for appointment as special administrator of said estate, and objections to the appointment of said W. F. Gullette and Arthur J. Lochrie, or any other person, a copy of which said petition and objections is attached to relator’s petition herein, from which it appears that relator’s application was based upon the records and files in the matter of said estate, including the petition for the probate of the will of said deceased, the order admitting said will to probate and appointing Samuel McKennan executor thereof, and directing that letters testamentary be issued to him as such, the oath of said relator as executor, the inventory and appraisal of the property of said estate, the report and account of said relator as such executor, the judgment revoking the probate of said will and revoking the appointment of said relator as executor, the notice of intention to move for a new trial and an affidavit of said relator wherein he claims to be better qualified than others to handle said estate.

The sole ground of objection to the appointment of W. F. Gullette and Arthur J. Lochrie, stated in the petition of relator, was that he (relator) had the preferential right to such appointment by reason of having been named executor in the will so admitted to probate. The petition of relator further alleges that, notwithstanding his application to be appointed special administrator, the district court overruled the same, and overruled his objections to the appointment of W. F. Gullette and Arthur J. Lochrie, and designated said persons as special administrators of the estate.

Relator also states that he intends to prosecute an appeal to the supreme court from the judgment, and that he has obtained an order granting additional time in which to prepare a bill of exceptions, and that the said W. F. Gullette and [343]*343Arthur J. Lochrie threaten to, and will, unless the order appointing them is annulled by the court, demand of the relator the delivery to them and the control of the property of said estate, and that the relator has no plain, speedy or adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law.

Upon the filing of the petition an order was issued directed to the district court of the third judicial district of the state of Montana, in and for the county of Powell, and to George B. Winston, the judge thereof, requiring them to show cause why the relator should not have the relief prayed for. In response thereto the respondents have filed their demurrer or motion to quash, upon the ground that the petition does not state facts sufficient to entitle the relator to the relief demanded, and likewise that said petition shows affirmatively upon the face thereof that the said relator is not entitled to a writ of supervisory control, or any other remedial writ, requiring the district court, or the judge thereof, to do the things, or any of the things, demanded in relator’s petition.

The only matter presented for determination is whether, upon the facts as presented to the district court, it was required to appoint relator as special administrator of said estate in preference to Gullette and Lochrie, the nominees of the brothers of the deceased.

Section 10107, Revised Codes of 1921, amongst other things says that, when an executor is suspended or removed, the court or judge must appoint a special administrator to take charge of the estate and exercise such powers as may be necessary for its preservation.

Section 10108 provides: “The appointment may be made at any time, and without notice. * * * ” And section 10109 reads: “In making the appointment of a special administrator, the court or judge must give preference to the person entitled to letters testamentary or of administration, but no appeal must be allowed from the appointment.”

There can be no doubt but that the intent of the sections above quoted is, where there is a will valid on its face naming an executor, to require the court or judge in appointing a [344]*344special administrator to give preference to the person named as executor, and where there is a will, and no executor is named therein, to give preference to the person entitled to letters of administration. Such was the holding of this court in State ex rel. Cotter v. District Court, 49 Mont. 146, 140 Pac. 732, and In re Williams Estate, 55 Mont. 63, 1 A. L. R. 1639, 173 Pac. 790.

In the Cotter Case there was a will with no one named as executor thereof, and the question involved was whether the husband of the deceased was entitled to administer the estate, and therefore entitled to be special administrator, pending a contest of said will instituted by such husband of the deceased, before probate, in preference to the father of the deceased, who was sole legatee under the will. The court said: “Upon the assumption that he is the surviving husband of the deceased, and legal cause was shown for the appointment of a special administrator, * * # the relator [husband] was prima facie entitled to the appointment.” It cannot be controverted that under the express language of section 10068, Revised Codes of 1921, the husband was in any event prima facie entitled to letters of administration, and therefore, pending the contest, entitled to be special administrator, if one were necessary.

In the Williams Case

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 P. 426, 69 Mont. 340, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mckennan-v-district-court-mont-1924.