77 Minn. 218 | Minn. | 1899
Lead Opinion
Plaintiff brought a bill in equity, and defendant demurred upon
The question to be determined is, has an executor in this state the right to bring a bill in equity in the district court against a co-executor for the purpose of having the amount determined, and to enforce a claim held by the estate against such co-executor, arising on contract entered into with the testator in his lifetime, and due at the time of his decease, when the co-executor disputes the amount and refuses to pay until such amount is ascertained? Plaintiff’s counsel admits that at common law such an action cannot be maintained, but he insists that in equity the rule is to the contrary, and that one executor or administrator may bring a bill against a co-executor, when justice requires it, to ascertain the amount and to enforce a claim of this character. The position of defendant’s counsel is that, where a testator appoints a debtor his executor, the debt becomes, immediately upon his qualification as executor, an asset in his hands, applicable to the purposes of the will, and for which he can only be compelled to account in the probate court, precisely as he must account for other assets, and that, where the amount of the debt is in dispute, the probate court has full power to hear and determine the amount of such indebtedness, as between the estate and the executor.
The jurisdiction of the probate court in this state is fixed by the fundamental law. Const, art. 6, § 7. Its jurisdiction is expressly limited and restricted to the estates of deceased persons and persons under guardianship. If, under this provision, the probate court has exclusive jurisdiction over the subject of this action, the order of the court below was right, and should be affirmed. But if exclusive jurisdiction has not been conferred on the probate court, and if the district court has not been deprived of jurisdiction, the action may be maintained, and the trial court erred when sustaining the demurrer. Even if it be admitted that the probate court can have jurisdiction by holding the debt to have become an asset in defendant’s hands immediately upon his qualification as an executor, and by enforcing its collection in the settlement of his trust account, it would not follow that, where justice required it, and
This rule is in the right direction beyond question, and covers the complaint now before us. Nor does this rule infringe upon that laid down in the cases cited by defendant’s counsel, seemingly, to the effect that it is the equitable doctrine that, where a debtor is appointed executor of the will of his creditor and accepts the trust, the debt is presumed to have been paid, is to be treated as an asset in the executor’s hands, and stands upon the same footing as other assets, to be accounted for in settlement of the estate, and in no other manner. The question now before us did not appear in any of those cases, and nowhere is it intimated that a bill in equity will not lie in favor of one executor or administrator, and against a co-executor or administrator, when the latter disputes the amount of an alleged indebtedness and refuses to pay, if justice requires the bringing of such an action, and there is no adequate remedy at law.
Order reversed.
MITCHELL, J., absent, did not take part.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur. Our constitution gives the probate court exclusive jurisdiction of certain matters, which implies that it has no jurisdiction of other matters. Then it is not often that the probate court and the district court have concurrent jurisdiction. But, as regards such question of concurrent jurisdiction, an indebtedness due from a co-executor to the estate, and incurred during the life of the testator, stands on the same footing as an indebtedness
