133 So. 692 | Ala. | 1931
Complainant, as a simple contract creditor of D. W. Irwin, deceased, whose estate is being administered in the probate court, with no steps being taken looking to a final settlement thereof, had the right to file this bill for the removal of the administration of the estate into the equity court. Carter v. Hutchens,
It is well recognized by our decisions that there should be no splitting up of an administration any more than any other cause of action, a principle recently expressed in Bynum v. Brewer,
The argument in support of the demurrer rests upon the insistence that the defendants, other than the administratrix, are not proper parties to the bill. That this argument can have no application to the heirs of decedent, distributees of the estate, is too *648
clear for discussion. As pointed out in Hodge v. Joy,
The administratrix is charged with wrongful diversion of the funds of the estate, and for misconduct, for which, if injury to the estate results, the surety may be held liable. Applying the principle first above noted, we are of the opinion the surety on the bond of the administratrix is a proper party defendant to the end there may be a final and complete settlement of the administration. Keith v. McCord, supra. And a like reasoning justifies the ruling that the Tennessee Valley Bank is also a proper party. The bill charges that the bank held certain collateral for decedent's original indebtedness to it, but of what these consisted complainant does not know, and cannot ascertain without a discovery; but that the administratrix had paid large sums of money to said bank, and the bank has collected a large amount of the outstanding notes and accounts due originally to decedent. It is further alleged that "the extent of its dealings, the amount claimed by it as creditor originally, the amount of augmented advances, the amount of collateral held by it that originally belonged to the said D. W. Irwin; the fate of such collateral, and of what it consisted," is unknown to complainant, and that a discovery is necessary.
The bill also discloses that the assets of the estate are being wasted, and that the estate is rapidly "evaporating."
It therefore appears from the bill that a discovery is sought as well, also an accounting to ascertain the status of the indebtedness to the bank, all of which is appropriate to a final and complete settlement of the estate. Whaley v. D. Rothschild Co.,
We have carefully read and considered the several authorities cited by appellant (Huckabee v. Swoope,
The decree will accordingly be here affirmed.
Affirmed.
ANDERSON, C. J., and BOULDIN and FOSTER, JJ., concur.