2 Wash. 331 | Wash. | 1891
The opinion of the court was delivered by
— The facts agreed upon are, in substance, that one William McGee died testate, his wife surviving him ] that said parties owned community property in Columbia county at the time of his decease] that one Embree was appointed executor of his will j that said McGee owed the Columbia National Bank $440, being a suretyship debt] that he left a small amount of separate estate, but not sufficient to pay the claim] that the community debts were paid by the executor, and a surplus of money was left in his hands arising from a sale of the community property] that the claim was duly presented and allowed, the separate property of deceased exhausted, and a balance of said debt remained unsatisfied. The court decreed that said indebtedness was a separate debt of the deceased, and that it was not a charge upon the community estate, or upon the decedent’s interest therein.
It is not contended that this particular debt is not a separate debt of the deceased, and the sole question presented to us is whether the unpaid balance should be paid out of decedent’s interest in the community property, or whether said property should go to his devisees relieved from liability therefor. It is not claimed that his said interest in the community property is exempted from the payment of this debt on any other ground than that it is a separate debt, for which it is urged that no part of the community property is liable in any event. Under our law (Code
While the law relating to our probate practice is somewhat confused, yet it is apparent — as no other way is provided — that upon the death of a person his separate estate and his interest in the community property is administered