145 Wash. 99 | Wash. | 1927
This is a controversy over who shall be appointed administrator with the will annexed of the estate of Walter Erickson, deceased.
The sole question involved is whether the statute (Rem. Comp. Stat., §1431) [P. C. §9947], gives the absolute right tó Doctor Linder as a creditor to be appointed or reposes in the court a discretion. In Larson v. Stewart, 69 Wash. 223, 124 Pac. 382, Ann. Cas. 1914A -1011, it was unequivocally held that a creditor, as such, did not have an absolute right under the statute to be appointed, but that the matter rested in the sound discretion of the court. In this case, it may be said that the trial court recognized that Doctor Linder was a competent and proper person to be appointed and also that Mr. Johnson was a competent and proper person. That court exercised its discretion in favor of the latter. In McLean v. Roller, 33 Wash. 166, 73 Pac. 1123, it was held that, where two suitable persons apply for letters of administration and the trial' court selects one of them, this court upon appeal will not disturb the holding of that court. In the case of In re Miller’s Estate, 130 Wash. 199, 226
Whether the meaning of § 1431, supra, as to the rights of creditors, has been enlarged by the amendment appearing in ch. 76, Laws of 1927, p. 58, Rem. 1927 Sup., § 1397, is a question not involved in the present action, and no opinion is expressed thereon.
The judgment will be affirmed.
Mackintosh, C. J., Mitchell, Fullerton, and French, JJ., concur.