152 A. 873 | R.I. | 1931
These are four appeals from two decrees of the Probate Court of the City of Providence. After a hearing in the Superior Court the appeals were denied and dismissed and the decrees of the Probate Court affirmed. The appeals are before us on appellants' exceptions.
The appellant O'Neill is executor of the will of Lorania C. Beckwith, who had her domicile in Norfolk County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where her will was admitted to probate. A copy of the same was recorded in the Probate Court of the City of Providence and ancillary letters of administration were granted to said O'Neill as executor of the estate of said Lorania C. Beckwith in Rhode Island. The appellant Dolan has acted as counsel for the executor in the administration of the estate. The appellees are the residuary legatees and devisees under said will.
At a hearing in the Probate Court of the City of Providence the final account of the executor of the estate in Rhode Island was allowed and the executor was charged with a final balance of $10,700.86. After this decree, from *183 which no appeal was taken, had been entered O'Neill filed a petition for a decree that said balance in his hands as executor in Rhode Island be transmitted to him as executor in Massachusetts to be applied there in payment of expenses of administration and the appellees filed a petition for a decree that said balance be distributed to them. A decree was entered denying the petition of O'Neill and another decree entered granting the petition of the appellees for distribution among them of the balance in the hands of the executor. From these two decrees the appeals were taken which are now before this court upon said exceptions.
The Probate Court acted by virtue of authority of Sections 40 and 41, Chapter 363, General Laws, 1923, which are as follows: Estates of Non-Residents. "Sec. 40. When a will is filed and recorded or administration is granted in this state on the estate of a person who was an inhabitant of any other state, territory, or district of the United States, or of a foreign country, his estate, real and personal, found here shall, after payment of his debts, be disposed of according to his will, if he left any executed according to law; otherwise the real estate shall descend according to the laws of this state, and his personal estate shall be distributed and disposed of according to the laws of the state, territory, district, or country of which he was an inhabitant.
"Sec. 41. Upon the settlement of such estate, and after the payment of all debts for which the same is liable in this state, the residue of the personal estate may be distributed and disposed of in manner aforesaid by the probate court; or, in the discretion of the court, it may be transmitted to the executor or administrator, if any, in the state, territory, district, or country where the deceased had his domicile."
The principal questions raised by the appeals are, first, as to whether the Probate Court of the City of Providence abused the discretion vested in it by statute in denying the petition of O'Neill and granting the petition of the appellees for distribution, and second, did said court by its decree fail to give full faith and credit to a decree entered by the *184 Probate Court of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, directing said O'Neill as executor of the will of Lorania C. Beckwith to pay Harry F.R. Dolan $13,000 on account of services rendered to her estate.
Since the leading case of Harvey v. Richards, 1 Mason, 381, decided in 1818 by Justice STORY, the law is well settled that an ancillary administration is not servient to that of the domicile, that one has no priority over the other and that it lies in the discretion of the court having jurisdiction over the property to distribute the same in accordance with the domiciliary law or to transmit the assets to the jurisdiction of the domiciliary court. The only limitations upon this discretion are those imposed by the principles of comity and equity.Cassilly v. Meyer,
The testatrix died in California shortly after giving birth to a child born out of wedlock. Her estate at her domicile inventoried at about $7,500 and her estate in Rhode Island at about $18,000. There was no contest over the will and no unusual difficulties in the administration of the estate in *185
Massachusetts. A guardian ad litem was appointed to look after the interests of the child and the sale of a farm which the testatrix owned there was authorized and completed. As to the inheritance and estate taxes, the only question which arose related to the trust estates over which the testatrix had the power of appointment and the only duty of the executor with respect thereto was to list them in his return to the proper authorities. The decedent's debts in Massachusetts, amounting to about $1,500, were not paid by the executor but as these have been satisfied by the appellees no question as to them is before us. In this State the executor before filing his final account had a balance in his hands of about $10,000 and without an order from the Probate Court of the City of Providence he paid this balance, together with the balance in his hands as executor in Massachusetts, to himself and his attorney, the appellant Dolan. Under an order from the Probate Court of the City of Providence the money taken from this jurisdiction was subsequently returned. Having thus exhausted all the assets of the estate a demand was made on the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co. that the principal of the two trust estates over which the testatrix had the power of appointment be turned over to the executor to be administered by him. Upon refusal by the said trustee to comply with this demand the executor filed two suits in equity in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island to compel compliance. This action appears to have been taken by the executor on his own initiative and without the consent of the appellees. Before said suits were filed the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co., after the demand for the funds had been made, brought a bill of equity in this court asking for instructions as to the disposition of the funds in these two trusts. In Rhode IslandHospital Trust Co. v. Anthony,
The appellants rely upon Pendleton v. Hare, (Texas) 231 S.W. 334 and In re Green's Estate, 226 N.Y. Sup. 436. In both these cases the court found as a fact that services beneficial to the distributees had been rendered to the domiciliary administrator but in neither case were the funds ordered transmitted. The claimants were given the right *188 to present their claims to the court of ancillary administration.
The point most strongly pressed by the appellants is that the appellees are estopped to contest the validity of the claim for counsel fees because they were represented by counsel at the hearing in the Probate Court of Norfolk County on the petition of the appellant Dolan for an order directing the executor to pay him $13,000. It is not clear in what capacity counsel for appellees appeared. The matter before the court was a suit between Dolan and the executor. The estate was not involved until the order or judgment was presented for allowance in the account of the executor and, in the matter of the allowance of the account, counsel for the appellees did not participate. The appearance of counsel in a matter in which the estate was not directly involved furnishes no ground for the application of the doctrine of estoppel. The order or judgment of the Probate Court of Norfolk County was not presented for allowance in the Probate Court of the City of Providence but was offered only, as stated by counsel, as evidence of the fact that such an order or judgment had been entered in Massachusetts. No question as to the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution of the United States therefore arises.
As the reasons of appeal from the decrees of the Probate Court are the same for each appellant, it is unnecessary to consider the exception of the appellant Dolan to the decision of the Superior Court dismissing his appeal on the ground that he was not a party aggrieved by the decree of the Probate Court of the City of Providence within the meaning of the statute.
The exceptions in each case are overruled and each case is remitted to the Superior Court for further proceedings following the decision.