203 P. 100 | Cal. | 1921
This is an appeal from an order of the superior court of Orange County appointing Charles D. Brown, public administrator, as the administrator of the estate of Elmer Barnes, deceased, and denying the application of Hervey Barnes to be appointed such administrator. Elmer Barnes died intestate on or about January 5, 1920, at Wheaton, Illinois, being at the time of his death a resident of the county of Orange, state of California, and leaving estate consisting of an undivided half interest in certain real property therein. He left as his surviving heirs his father and mother, Hervey Barnes and Mary Barnes, who, up to the time of his death and for a long time prior thereto, resided in Wheaton, Illinois. On December 14, 1920, Raymond *567 C. Barnes, a brother of said deceased, filed a petition to be appointed administrator of the decedent's estate, whereupon the said public administrator filed a like petition, in which he alleged that said Raymond C. Barnes was not qualified to be appointed as such administrator for the reason that he was not entitled to share in the distribution of said estate. Thereupon Hervey Barnes, the father of said deceased, having received at his home in Illinois a telegram from his son, Raymond C. Barnes, stating that the latter was having some difficulty in being appointed administrator, and requesting him to come out as an heir of his deceased son and apply for letters of administration, came at once to California, arriving in Orange County on December 20, 1920, and filed his petition for letters of administration in said estate on December 30, 1920. The petition of Raymond C. Barnes was thereupon dismissed. Both of the other petitions came on for hearing at the same time, and the court, after taking evidence for and against each petition, made its order denying Hervey Barnes' petition upon the ground that he was not a bona fide resident of the state of California at the time, and granting the petition of the public administrator for letters of administration. This appeal is from said order.
It is the contention of the appellant that he was a bona fide
resident of the state of California at the time of filing his petition to be appointed administrator of his son's estate, and as such was entitled to be appointed such administrator under section
[2] The appellant makes the further contention that the statute denying to nonresident heirs the right to administer upon the property of decedents in this state is void as in violation of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, which provides that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty or property, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This contention is supported by no authority and has no merit. The administration of estates is a matter of statutory regulation and the right to provide thereby for the temporary possession of the property of decedents for the purpose of paying their debts and distributing the residue of their estate among those entitled to succeed thereto has been universally recognized and upheld.
The order is affirmed.
Shaw, C. J., Wilbur, J., Sloane, J., Lennon, J., Waste, J., and Shurtleff, J., concurred.