95 A. 26 | Conn. | 1915
These two cases are appeals to the Superior Court from orders of the Court of Probate for the district of New Haven relating to the intestate *425 estate of Henry O. Hotchkiss, deceased. The appeals were tried together in the Superior Court, and one finding applicable to both cases was made. By stipulation they have been argued together in this court, and they may be here disposed of as if all the questions had been raised on a single appeal.
The Superior Court set aside the orders appealed from upon the ground that before they were passed there had already been a valid distribution of the estate, and that the former administratrix of the estate, Mary A. F. Hotchkiss, now deceased, widow of the intestate, had turned over to the distributees their respective shares under such distribution, and had fully administered the estate. In our view of the case this conclusion was correct, and it will be unnecessary to consider other facts found by the trial judge which, it is claimed by Miss Hotchkiss, would support the judgment appealed from had there been no valid distribution under the statute.
Mr. Hotchkiss died in December, 1883, leaving, besides the widow before mentioned, three children, Nathaniel S., William H. and Marie O. Hotchkiss, as his only heirs at law. Administration was granted to the widow on January 9th, 1884, and on July 25th, 1884, she filed her administration account, which was accepted and allowed on July 30th, 1884, and showed over $270,000 in real and personal estate on hand for distribution. No distributors were appointed until December 30th, 1913, when the order appointing three distributors of the estate was passed, from which one of the present appeals was taken.
On January 9th, 1884, the widow and the three heirs at law of Mr. Hotchkiss, all of whom were of full age and legally capable to act, made an agreement respecting said estate in the form of a written instrument, made, executed and acknowledged like deeds of land, *426 and later recorded in the records of the Court of Probate. This instrument is printed in the statement, is referred to in the record, and will hereafter be referred to by us as Exhibit A. The administratrix, shortly after the settlement of her administration account, turned over to each of the heirs at law the amount in cash to be received by them as their respective portions of the estate under said instrument, and later turned over to herself all the rest and residue of the estate, it being understood and intended by all of them that the portion received was received pursuant to and in execution and satisfaction of said instrument and in full settlement of all claims which any of the children had to, or against, the estate, or against Mary A. F. Hotchkiss individually or as administratrix.
Nathaniel S. Hotchkiss died in 1905; William H. Hotchkiss died in 1907; Mary A. F. Hotchkiss died in 1912. The daughter, Marie O. Hotchkiss, survives, and is the executrix of her mother's will and administratrix of the estate of her brother William. The appellant in this court, Louise T. Goodno, is the daughter of Nathaniel S. Hotchkiss and executrix of his will. The instrument, Exhibit A, was filed in the Court of Probate and recorded on October 23d 1913, having been found by Marie O. Hotchkiss among her mother's papers in her safety-deposit box.
A statute in force at the death of Henry O. Hotchkiss, and still in effect as § 395, reads as follows: "Intestate estate, after deducting expenses and charges, shall be distributed by three disinterested persons or any two of them, under oath, appointed by the Court of Probate, unless all the persons interested in said estate shall be legally capable to act, and shall make and file in court a division of the same, made, executed and acknowledged like deeds of land, which instrument, being recorded in said court, shall be a valid distribution of *427 said estate." General Statutes (Rev. 1875) p. 372, § 5. The Superior Court held that Exhibit A, filed and recorded in the Court of Probate, was a valid distribution under this statute. It is for the appellant in this court to show that it is not a valid distribution.
It is claimed that the instrument in question is not "made" like deeds of land, but is a mere executory contract, and does not purport to convey or to particularly describe the precise property which each of the parties to it is to receive. Neither of the methods of distribution provided by the statute is intended as a conveyance of property. The heirs and distributees are the beneficial owners of the property of the estate, subject to the payment of debts. The administrator holds the technical legal title only for the purposes of administration.Woodhouse v. Phelps,
It is further claimed that the division was made too early and filed and recorded too late. It is said that a distribution cannot be made until the administration account has been allowed, and it is thus ascertained what property there is for distribution, nor until the court has ascertained and ordered to whom the property shall be distributed. In Mathews' Appeal,
The statute clearly contemplates that the filing and recording of the distribution will be subsequent to the approval of the administration account. It fixes no time within which it must be made. It ought, doubtless, to be filed more promptly than was done in the present case, but, it appearing that the distribution had been made according to the terms of the instrument, it was proper to receive and record it at any time, provided no other distribution had then been ordered. If, after the administration account was settled, the court had appointed distributors and a distribution had been made by them and left with the administratrix, and she had turned over the estate to the distributees in accordance with its terms, but had neglected to return the distribution or make return of her doings under it to the Court of Probate prior to her death, can it be doubted that, upon proof of these facts, it would be the duty of the court to receive and record that distribution if returned to it by her executrix with a return showing that the estate had been distributed in accordance therewith? It seems beyond question that it would be its duty to do so. And it seems to us to be equally beyond question that it was its duty to accept and record the distribution made by the distributees which had been fully carried out by the administratrix.
It is claimed, further, that the statute requires that a division made by the distributees shall be filed by all of them, and it is said that, as three of them were dead at the time the distribution was filed, this was impossible. It is admitted, however, that the statute will not bear the strict construction which would require that all should be physically present in court at the time of the filing. There is nothing in the record to show that *431 the Court of Probate did not have jurisdiction to receive and record the distribution. That action of the Court of Probate is not appealed from. Upon an appeal from other orders, that action will be assumed to be correct unless it appears to have been beyond the court's jurisdiction. If the court, having jurisdiction, for some reason improperly received and recorded Exhibit A, the appellant's remedy was by an appeal from that order. It cannot, on this appeal, be assumed that the court acted beyond its jurisdiction because it appears that three of the parties were dead. During their lifetime they may have authorized the filing, and, having received their full shares under the instrument, their deaths would not revoke the authority to file it for record. The burden is upon the appellant upon this appeal to show that the court's action in receiving and recording Exhibit A was beyond its jurisdiction.
To the appellant's claim that the receiving and recording of Exhibit A did not constitute an order of distribution, it seems enough to say that the statute provides that when such a division, proper in substance and form, has been filed and recorded, it shall be a valid distribution. The receiving and ordering this instrument recorded made it a valid distribution, just as receiving and ordering recorded a distribution made by appointed distributors would make that a valid distribution. No further or other order was necessary. It is the duty of the court, in either case, to refuse to receive and record an improper distribution, and failure to do so would give ground for an injured party to appeal.
It is next contended that the distribution is not valid because it does not divide the estate among the distributees in the proportions prescribed by the statute of distributions. General Statutes (Rev. 1875) p. 372, § 6. Assuming it to be true that the division should *432
have been in accordance with the statute referred to, how can the appellant take advantage of the fact in this proceeding? This appeal is not from that distribution. It was within the jurisdiction of the Court of Probate to receive and record the distribution made by the distributees. Neither of these appeals is from that order of distribution, and the appeals bring up for review only the orders appeal from. Richardson v. Richardson, 2 Root, 159. Where a mistake was made by distributors appointed by the court, and the court accepted and recorded the distribution which was made, it was held that the Superior Court, in an action brought to correct the mistake, could not correct it, and that the remedy was by appeal from the distribution. Gates v.Treat,
We do not understand that the appellant's third reason of appeal was pressed in case it should be held that Exhibit A was a valid distribution. There having been a valid distribution recorded by the Court of Probate having jurisdiction, the Superior Court properly set aside the order appointing the administratorde bonis non. That he or Mrs. Goodno were attacking, by an action in the Superior Court, the distribution which stands unappealed from, and which, therefore, the Superior Court would have no power to change or set aside (Gates v. Treat,
The numerous requests to change the finding are denied. Most of the findings referred to relate to the questions to which we have referred as raised and argued by the counsel for the appellee in this court, which we have found it unnecessary to consider. The findings, therefore, became unimportant. One or two of the findings complained of relate to the questions which we have considered. These findings are supported by the evidence and admissions of the pleadings.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.