4 Ohio Misc. 65 | Oh. Prob. Ct., Hamilton | 1963
This matter came before the court upon the motion of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, a corporation, to dissolve the appointment of James L. O’Connell as ancillary administrator of the estate of Stevie McQueen, deceased.
The facts in the case disclose that Reba Martin, a minor, through her father, Hawley Martin, both of whom were residents of Kentucky, filed a suit in the Common Pleas Court of Hamilton County against Stevie McQueen, a resident of Indiana, for damages alleged to have been sustained by said minor in a collision alleged to have occurred in Hamilton County between
The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, in support of its motion to dissolve the ancillary administrator’s appointment, claims that the decedent, Stevie McQueen, left no property to be administered in the state of Ohio.
Counsel for the minor, Reba Martin, contend that the decedent did leave property in Ohio, vis., a liability insurance policy issued by the movant which was available to pay any judgment which might be rendered against the decedent in the litigation pending against him in the aforementioned Common Pleas Court case.
The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company has cited the case of In re: Estate of Wilcox, 73 Ohio Law Abs. 571, as authority to sustain its motion to dissolve the ancillary administration. In this case, the court held that no ancillary administration of a nonresident decedent’s estate can be had in Ohio where the application is made by one who is not an interested person, as required by Section 2129.04, Revised Code, and that an automobile insurance policy is not property located in Ohio within the meaning of Section 2129.04, Revised Code, providing for ancillary administration. In the Wilcox case, Edwin C. Wilcox was a nonresident of Ohio, died a nonresident of Ohio, and his estate was administered in Denver, Colorado. Prior to his death, he was in an automobile accident in Vinton County, Ohio, in which Charles Shelby, Laura E. Shelby and Zelma Tripp, all three domiciled in Franklin County, Ohio, were in
In the Robinson case, the appellant claimed that his intestate’s death was caused by the negligence of the driver of an automobile, of whose estate he sought the appointment of an administrator, so that he might bring action upon his claim of liability. The driver of the car was covered by liability insurance. The New Hampshire law provided that administra
Other cases which follow the decision in the Robinson case in holding that the protection afforded to a decedent under a policy of insurance for indemnity or against liability dependent upon the establishment of a liability against him or his estate constitutes assets within the state to justify the appointment in that state of an administrator for his estate, against whom the suit for tort of the decedent may be instituted, are: Furst v. Brady, 375 Ill. 425, 31 N. E. 2d 606, 133 A. L. R. 558; Gordon
In insurance policy in legal contemplation is “property.” Sullivan v. Union Oil Co., 16 Cal. 2d 229, 106 P. 2d 922.
The term, “property,” includes everything which is subject to ownership whether corporeal or incorporeal, tangible or intangible, visible or invisible, real or personal, dioses in action and everything with exchangeable value or going to make up one’s wealth or estate. Button v. Drake, 302 Ky. 517, 195 S. W. 2d 66.
The word, “property,” is nomen generalissimum, and extends to every species of valuable right and interest, including real and personal property, easement, franchises, and other incorporeal hereditaments. In law and in the broadest sense, “property” means “a thing owned,” and is therefore applicable to whatever is the subject of legal ownership. It is divisible into different species of property including physical things, such as lands, goods, money; intangible things, such as franchises, patent rights, copyrights, trade-marks, trade names, business good will, rights of action, etc; and embraces anything and everything which may belong to a man and in the ownership of which he has a right to be protected by law. 34A Words and Phrases 129.
Section 2129.04, Eevised Code, provides that “When a nonresident decedent leaves property in Ohio, ancillary administration proceedings may be had upon application of any interested person in any county in Ohio in which is located property of the decedent, or in which a debtor of such decedent resides. Such applicant may or may not be a creditor of the estate. The ancillary administration first granted shall extend to all the estate of the deceased within the state, and shall exclude the jurisdiction of any other court.”
After considering the laws and authorities hereinbefore reviewed, we conclude that the protection afforded to a decedent under a policy of insurance for indemnity or against liability,
We also hold that when an injured party has brought an action in Ohio against an insured nonresident tortfeasor for damages arising out of an automobile collision and service has been made upon said tortfeasor who dies during the pend-ency of such action, the injured party is an interested party who can apply for ancillary administration of said nonresident’s estate under the provisions of said section.
The motion of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company to dissolve the appointment of the Ancillary Administrator of the estate of Stevie McQueen, deceased, therefore, will be overruled.
Motion overruled.