1 Mills Surr. 112 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1899
This motion was argued before Surrogate Arnold and has now been submitted to me for decision. The administrator herein paid the proceeds of a certain legacy given by decedent to the latter’s "widow, in recognition of an alleged assignment. The referee properly found that no such assignment took place, and that the account of the administrator should be surcharged with the amount of the moneys so paid out by him. It is contended that the court had no jurisdiction to try this issue. It is true that, where an apparently valid assignment of a legacy is attacked on the ground of fraud or mistake, the Surrogate’s Court, not being a tribunal with equity powers, has no jurisdiction to determine the validity of the paper. Matter of Randall, 152 N. Y. 508. Such is not the case here, however. The question whether or not the decedent made the assignment under which the administrator assumed to act presented an issue of fact not call
Decreed accordingly.