258 Pa. 502 | Pa. | 1917
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the decree of the Orphans’ Court of Blair County, overruling the report of an auditor appointed to pass upon exceptions to two accounts of H. K. McCauley, one filed in his capacity as surviving administrator of the estate of his father, Thomas Mc-Cauley, "and the other as guardian of minor children of
From the facts as found by the auditor, it appears that Thomas McCauley died intestate on April 25, 1880, at Altoona, Blair County, leaving to survive him a widow, Ann McCauley, and four children, Charles, Herman K., Albert C., and Anna E. McCauley. Letters of administration on his estate were granted to the widow and one of the sons, Herman K. McCauley, the present accountant. The purpose in taking out letters of administration does not appear, for the auditor finds the decedent had no estate, and the bond appears to have been executed with the amount left blank. No inventory was filed. The widow died November 29, 1886, leaving Herman E. McCauley as surviving administrator. Decedent’s eldest child, Charles McCauley, died August 9, 1889, intestate and leaving to survive him a widow, Clara B. McCauley, and four children, Thomas B. McCauley, Anna M. McCauley, now Starbuck, Helen B. McCauley,, now Walbridge, and Charles H. McCauley,, all of whom were minors. Subsequently Herman E. McCauley was appointed their guardian by the Orphans’ Court of Blair County. Clara B. McCauley, the widow of Charles Mc-Cauley, died February 22,1911, and his son, Thomas B. McCauley, died February 12, 1912, intestate, unmarried and without issue. But in 1904, the latter conveyed and released to H. E. McCauley, for a valuable consideration, all his interest in the estates both of his father and his grandfather.
The court below approved the auditor’s findings of fact but held that, as Thomas McCauley died without having at the time any estate, or any property of any
It appears that Thomas McCauley was associated for many years with his brother-in-law, D. E. Ramey, and others in the development of certain tracts of timber and coal land in Clearfield, Center and Cambria Counties. Prior to his death, however, he had lost his entire interest in these lands and in the business, and, when he died, had no ownership therein. In order to protect his own interests, Mr. Ramey had acquired the greater part of the properties in question. There is no intimation that this was not done with perfect fairness to McCauley, or that. Ramey was under any legal obligation whatever to . the latter in this connection. The auditor finds that Ramey became “burdened with the effort of trying to de
During the last illness of Thomas McCauley, Ramey promised him that, if he should be successful in the development of the Clearfield County property, “he would share some of the earnings and profits with his—Thomas McCauley’s—family,” not with his estate. Ramey’s promise was a voluntary one, without valuable consideration, and the money which he afterwards paid in fulfillment of the promise was clearly a gift to the family of his sister and her husband. The promise imposed no obligation on him that could have been enforced either at law or in equity.
The auditor reported that at the time of the death of Thomas McCauley, in April, 1880, his son Charles was largely indebted to the firm of Ramey & Co., and that D. K. Ramey and Thomas McCauley had discussed this indebtedness; that Mr. Ramey urged settlement, and in September, 1881, Charles McCauley made up a statement showing that he was indebted to Ramey & Co., in an amount exceeding $9,000. Mr. Ramey then took the first step in redeeming his promise to Thomas McCauley, by giving to Charles the sum of $10,000, allowing him credit for that amount and a further sum of $700, interest thereon, and paying him in cash the difference between the credit thus allowed and the amount of his indebtedness. In so far as Mr. Ramey was concerned, the sum thus allowed to Charles McCauley was purely a gratuity made in keeping with the promise to his father, and the auditor found that it was under and by virtue of this promise that Ramey paid the $10,000 to Charles McCauley a year and a half after Thomas McCauley’s death. The sum had no proper place in the account of the administrator. It did not pass through the hands of the accountant or his coadministrator. It is true that Mr. Ramey secured an order from the administrators requesting him to “pay to Charles McCauley, one of the heirs of Thomas McCauley, deceased, $10,000......he to receive nothing more until
The next item that is questioned, is a payment of $19,500 made by Mr. Ramey some twenty-one years after the death of Thomas McCauley. The auditor found that on or about April 23, 1901, Ramey sent for H. K. Mc-Cauley and handed him a check for $19,500, saying: “I asked you to come in for the reason that I want to give you a check, in accordance with my promise to your father and mother, for $19,500. I have redeemed the Altoona Iron Company stock which I want you to have. That will give each of you with this $19,500 about equal to that I gave Charles.” The auditor found that this was a donation from Mr. Ramey in keeping with his promise. It was made to the children of Thomas McCauley and, taken in connection with the Altoona Iron Company stock, which the donor said he had redeemed and wanted them to have, it was intended to make the four children, including Charles, share about equally in his bounty. We can find nothing in the evidence which would justify treating this donation as an asset of the estate of Thomas McCauley.
The remaining matter in question, is the stock of the Altoona Iron Company. The original certificate for fifty shares held by Thomas McCauley was hypothecated by him in 1875, and there is no evidence that he ever redeemed it. As he became a bankrupt shortly before his death, the presumption is, that, if there was any margin between the actual value of the stock, and the amount for which it was hypothecated, the trustee in bankruptcy would have disposed of the stock and used the margin for the benefit of creditors. At any rate, we have the finding of fact by the auditor that at the time of his death, Thomas McCauley had no property, and the further
After carefully considering all of the testimony in the case, in the light of the earnest argument of counsel for appellants, we are satisfied that the findings of fact by the auditor are fully justified, and that the court below drew the proper conclusion therefrom, in holding that the estate of Thomas McCauley was not possessed of assets with which the administrator was chargeable, or for which he is bound to account.
The assignments of error are overruled, and the decree of the court below is affirmed.