108 Mich. 126 | Mich. | 1895
(after stating the facts). Two questions are raised:
1. Could such claim be filed and prosecuted before said court when there was no administrator to represent the estate and defend against said claim?
2. Had the claim accrued or become absolute more than a year prior to March 22, 1893, the day of filing the petition in the probate court ?
We need only consider the second question, as it is conclusive of the case.
The statute under which this claim was presented is as follows:
“If the claim of any person shall accrue or become absolute at any time after the time limited for creditors to present their claims, the person having such claim may present it to the probate court, and prove the same, at any time within one year after it shall accrue or become absolute, and, if established in the manner provided in this chapter, the executor or administrator shall be required to pay it, if he shall have sufficient assets for that purpose, and shall be required to pay such part as he shall have assets to pay; and if real or personal estate shall afterwards come to his possession, he shall be required to pay such claim, or such part as he may have assets sufficient to pay, not exceeding the proportion of the other creditors, in such time as the probate court may prescribe.” 2 How. Stat. § 5936.
The following nine sections make provision for the collection of such claims, and for the bringing of suits against the administrator or heirs or devisees to enforce them.
The plain purpose of this statute was to give creditors a year after their claims accrued or became absolute within
Judgment must be reversed, and no new trial ordered.