3 Bradf. 426 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1855
In this case, several creditors interposed objections to the final account of the administratrix, claiming that she should be charged with the value of the stock in trade of a millinery store, conducted by her prior to her husband’s decease ; that she should be compelled to pay interest on the amount of money realized by her out of the assets, shortly after letters were issued; that certain claims of other parties, alleging themselves to be creditors, were not valid; and that purchases of demands against the estate, made by one of the sureties on the administration bond, at the rate of three shillings on the dollar, enured to the benefit of the estate.
The millinery store, conducted by Mrs. Hyman, does not seem to have been managed as her separate establishment, in any such way as to make it the separate property of the widow. The debts of this store have been presented as claims against the estate, and I see no reason why the stock in trade on hand at Hyman’s death, should not have been included in the inventory. If that had been done, we would have been left in no uncertainty as to the extent of that portion of the assets, and their value. The administratrix having failed to do her duty in that respect, it is now necessary to arrive at the amount, as nearly as may be, by a general estimate. I find that during the three months preceding the intestate’s decease, some eight hundred dollars of debt were contracted for that store, and the extent of cash purchases there are no means of ascertaining. I am inclined to think the administratrix should be charged with $500, as the value of that establishment. The debts of Alexander, Woolfe, and Phillips, are sworn to positively, and I cannot indulge conjecture and suspicion against clear and explicit testimony. It is true, the debts of the decedent compared with his property were large, but that often happens in cases of insolvency, even where the debtor has enjoyed good credit until the moment of the catastrophe. If there was any diminution of the stock of the clothing store before letters of administration issued, which I do not think clear, it was not the fault of the widow and should not be charged on her. The decedent died Hovember