11 Ala. 104 | Ala. | 1847
In Thrash v. Sumwalt, 5 Ala. Rep. 13, it was decided, that “ an administrator is bound to a creditor of the intestate, in consequence of the assets which come to his hands to be administered; and a distributee has no claim whatever, until the demands of all creditors are satisfied, or legally barred.” He cannot therefore discharge
We have seen that the decree rendered upon the distribution, would not have availed the administrator to defeat the creditor, if it had been pleaded, and his surety in a distinct but consequential action cannot derive from it any assistance. The judgment rendered in the primary cause cannot be opened by the pleading and evidence, and if the facts which have since transpired, show that assets came to the administrator’s hands sufficient to satisfy the judgment in question, which have not been duly administered, then the ruling of the circuit court is correct. This conclusion, instead of opposing, is in harmony with the act of 1826, which declares, that “ no security for an executor or administrator shall be chargeable beyond the assets of the testator or intestate, on account of any omission or mistake in pleading of the executor or administrator.” [Clay’s Dig. 228, § 34.]
In Thompson, Judge, &c. v. Searcy and Fearn, 6 Porter’s R. 393, it was decided, that an action can be well maintained upon the administration bond, against the sureties, after the plaintiff’s claim has been ascertained by judgment, upon an allegation that the administrator has wasted more than an equal amount of the goods and chattels of the intestate; and this even before a devastavit is fixed by' judgment, in an action against the administrator, founded upon an allegation that he had wasted the assets, with the view of obtaining satisfaction of a judgment rendered de bonis intestatis.
In the case last cited, it was said, that the surety in the