Zion's Savings Bank & Trust Co. v. Harris

105 P.2d 461, 99 Utah 464
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 13, 1940
DocketNo. 6238
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 105 P.2d 461 (Zion's Savings Bank & Trust Co. v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zion's Savings Bank & Trust Co. v. Harris, 105 P.2d 461, 99 Utah 464 (Utah 1940).

Opinions

MOFFAT, Chief Justice.

On the 16th day of January, 1939, Sterling P. Harris filed his unverified petition in the Probate Division of the District Court of Salt Lake County for letters of administration upon the estate of Anna L. Harris, his deceased wife.

At the time of the death of Anna L. Harris there was pending in the United States District Court for the District of Utah a proceeding under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U. S. C. A. § 203. That proceeding abated by the death of Anna L. Harris.

February 10, 1940, Sterling P. Harris, as administrator of the estate of Anna L. Harris, filed a petition in the District Court of the Third Judicial District of the State of Utah for Salt Lake County, alleging “that unless said proceeding is revived and reinstated, the entire estate of said deceased is in danger of being lost.” The petitioner prayed for an order authorizing him to apply to the United States District Court for an order reviving and reinstating the debtor relief petition of Anna L. Harris, deceased.

The Probate Court granted the petition and entered an order authorizing the administrator to apply to the United States District Court for an order reviving and reinstating the debtor relief proceedings. The administrator asks leave of the probate court to seek the benefits of section 75 in the bankruptcy court. Two months after the death of Anna L. Harris the Probate Court appointed respondent administrator of his deceased wife’s estate.

Thereafter Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company, the holder of a mortgage, proceeded to foreclose its mortgage. Judgment of foreclosure was entered. A sheriff’s sale was had and a certificate of sale was issued to the bank as purchaser for the full amount of the judgment. Just before the redemption period expired entitling the bank to a sheriff’s deed, the respondent administrator petitioned the probate court for leave to apply in the federal court for a revivor of the bankruptcy proceedings. The petition was [466]*466granted and order made, but stayed pending appeal by the bank and upon giving a supersedeas bond. The bond was given and appeal taken.

Appellant assigns and argues it was error for the Probate Court of Salt Lake County to grant the petition and make the order authorizing the administrator to apply to the United States court.

The question here is not whether the Frazier-Lemke Act permits the administrator of a deceased farmer to file a petition for debtor’s relief under the moratorium provisions of the act, but whether the Probate Court has the authority to authorize an administrator to file such a petition in the United States District Court in the abated bankruptcy proceeding.

An administrator desiring to seek the benefit of the Frazier-Lemke Act is required under the provisions of the act to first obtain the authority of the Probate Court which appointed him and to exhibit in his petition to the federal court his appointment and authorization.

The privilege conferred by the act in event a legal authorization is made by a court having power to do so is contained in Section 9:

“(9) The personal representative of a deceased farmer who desires in his representative capacity to effect, under section 75, a- composition or extension of the debts of the estate, shall attach to his petition, in lieu of schedules, the following papers * * *
“(a) a copy of the order of his appointment, (b) a copy of an order of the probate court authorizing him to file the petition.” (Italics ours) General Order 50 (9), 11 U. S. C. A. following section 53.

The source of the administrator’s power and that of the probate court must be found in the Probate Code. Nowhere in the Probate Code is there any power expressed authorizing an administrator to resort to the Frazier-Lemke Act or permitting the probate court to authorize him to do so. Federal courts have no jurisdiction in probate matters in respect to the administration of the [467]*467estates of deceased persons. 2 Hughes Federal Practice, Jurisdiction and Procedure, § 985.

“Proceedings for the administration of estates of decedent’s are purely statutory.” 1 Bancroft’s Probate Practice, p. 76, § 37.
“Jurisdiction of the Probate Courts to administer upon the estate of decedents is primary and exclusive.” 1 Bancroft’s Probate Practice, p. 62, § 33.
“The court, sitting in probate, derives its power from the statutes and has only such powers as are granted by statute or reasonably implied or reasonably necessary and proper to effectuate the powers which are given.” In re Cloward’s Estate, 95 Utah 453, 82 P. 2d 336, 339, 119 A. L. R. 123.

The problem presents the anomaly, if allowed, of a probate court divesting itself of the management of the estate and permitting its appointee who represents the interests of the heirs, if there are any heirs of the deceased, to be subjected to the jurisdiction of another tribunal.

The administrator is neither a debtor nor a bankrupt, and has only the control of the property for the purpose of pursuing the statutory probate proceedings in order that the heirs may receive what there is remaining after the expenses of administration have been paid and the claims of creditors have been satisfied. What would be the method of unraveling a situation if an administrator should die or resign and another should apply for appointment who was unwilling to ask for permission to come under the provisions of the bankruptcy act?

Where a similar matter has reached the federal courts, two of them have been denied the privilege of the conciliatory provisions of the bankruptcy act and one has allowed it. In re Reynolds, D. C. Okl., 21 F. Supp. 369; and In re Buxton’s Estate, D. C. Ill., 14 F. Supp. 616, 617. Contra, Hines v. Farkas, 5 Cir., 109 F. 2d 289.

The case of In re Reynolds, supra, involved the Probate Code of Oklahoma and was decided by a federal district court there in 1937. The administrator petitioned the federal court to revive the proceedings and was met with a [468]*468motion to dismiss the entire cause on the grounds that title to the real property vested immediately in the heirs under the Oklahoma law. The section in question (O. S. 1931, Sec. 1615, 84 Okl. St. Am. § 212) practically identical with our own Section 101-4-2, R. S. Utah 1933, is as follows:

“The property, both real and personal, of one who dies without disposing of it by will, passes to the heirs of the intestate, subject to the control of the county court, and to the possession of any administrator appointed by that court for the purpose of administration.”

The federal court, bound as it was thereby, looked to the state court decisions on the subject of descent and said that the Oklahoma Supreme Court had commented on this section several times and quoted from the state court in Seal v. Banes, 168 Okl. 550, 35 P. 2d 704, 705:

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105 P.2d 461, 99 Utah 464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zions-savings-bank-trust-co-v-harris-utah-1940.