130 A. 157 | Conn. | 1925
One of the two decisive claims of error in this case grows out of the action of the trial court in regard to the Collins and Miller claim. As appellant points out, Courts of Probate, and the Superior Court acting upon appeals from them, have ordinarily no jurisdiction to adjudicate the validity of claims presented against an estate. Isaac v. Stevens,
In the case before us, the administrator in the return of claims presented, which he was by statute required to make, listed the Collins and Miller claim as not only exhibited to him, but as one he had allowed. It is true that the statute, General Statutes, § 4985, only requires a return of claims presented, without any specification as to whether they have been allowed or not, but it is certainly not unusual to apprize the Court of Probate of those which have been allowed; Cleaveland, Hewitt Clark, Probate Law and Practice of Conn., Form 62, p. 954; and since the information so disclosed may well be of material aid to the court in the performance of its duty of supervision over the settlement of the estate, that practice is commendable.Davenport v. Richards,
The other substantial claim of error is based upon the action of the trial court in surcharging the debit side of the account with the reasonable rental value of the house occupied by the two daughters of the intestate. Since 1855 we have had a statute which, subject to certain exceptions not now material, gives to an executor or administrator possession, care and control of the real estate belonging to the deceased at his death during the settlement of the estate, and vests in him all the products and income from it. General Statutes, § 5027.* Under this statute we have recognized *233
the right of executors or administrators to the rentals due under existing leases and their power themselves to give leases good during the settlement of the estate; Nichols v. Dayton,
Here no adequate reason appears for keeping the estate open so long and it must be assumed to have been the voluntary choice of the administrator; without authority from the Court of Probate, the premises were in the continued occupancy of two of the heirs; there was at all times an outstanding claim for the payment of which no resources were available other than the real estate in question; and the stipulation that the reasonable rental value of the premises was $30 a month shows that they were rentable. Had he closed the estate promptly, as he might apparently have done by a sale of the premises, there is nothing to indicate that there might not have been a substantial sum to apply upon the Collins and Miller claim, which his account shows was the only claim against the estate. As it is, substantially all that has been realized must go to discharge expenditures made by him in maintaining a home for the two daughters. It is true that the statute provides that "the family" of the decedent shall be allowed to remain in the dwelling-house occupied by him until it shall be sold, distributed or otherwise disposed of according to law. *236
The two daughters might under some circumstances come within the description of the family of the decedent, but used as it is in this statute in contradistinction to the words "heirs or devisees," whose occupancy is only allowable under authority of the Court of Probate, the word "family" must be given a narrower meaning than mere relationship, and be taken to designate the collective body of relatives by blood or marriage who together form the household of the decedent; Hart v. Goldschmidt,
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.