36 Cal. 651 | Cal. | 1869
The facts of this case are, that in July, 1857, Requena was appointed by the Probate Court guardian for J. L. Vignes, an infirm old man, who was adjudged incompetent to manage his affairs; that instead of taking the personal control of the ward and his estate, the guardian left both, in a great measure, under the management of the two brothers Sainsevaine, with the consent, as he alleges, of the children and heirs at law of Vignes; that the guardian filed no inventory of the estate of his ward, except as hereinafter stated; nor any account of his guardianship, until the year 1862, after the death of the ward. But in the last named year he filed what purported to be a final account, and asked that it be
On the final hearing, the Prohate Court overruled all the exceptions to the account, approved and settled it as rendered by the guardian, and entered a final decree discharging the guardian from his trust, and exonerating him and his sureties “ from all liability in the premises.” From this decree the contestants have appealed, and the first error alleged is, that the decree undertakes to discharge the guardian and his sureties from all liabilities past and future, instead of limiting it to “ all liability to be incurred thereafter.”
By section three hundred and seventy of the Probate Act it is provided that “ all the laws relative to the accounts of executors and administrators shall govern in regard to the accounts of a guardian, so far as the same can be made applicable;” and by section two hundred and seventy-nine of the same Act, it is provided that when the estate has been fully administered, and it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the executor or administrator paid all sums of money due from him, and has delivered up under the order of the Court all the property of the estate to the parties entitled, and performed all the acts lawfully required of him, “ the Court shall make a decree discharging him from all liability to be incurred thereafter.” Section two hundred and thirty-seven of the Act provides that “ the settlement of the account and the allowance thereof by the Court, or upon appeal, shall be conclusive against all persons in any way interested in the estate,” saving, however, to .persons laboring under any legal disability, their right to proceed against the executor or administrator and his sureties within two years after the removal of their disabilities; and in any action brought by them, the allowance and settlement of the account shall be deemed presumptive evidence of its correctness.
Taking all these provisions together, it is obvious that the settlement and allowance of the account is conclusive on all parties in interest, except those laboring under some legal
The next error relied upon is that the guardian’s account was not properly verified; but we think it substantially complied with the law, and was sufficient. It is also objected that the guardian did not personally administer the trust,
Another ground of error relied upon is that some of the claims against the estate were paid by the guardian without being properly verified, and without being first approved, either by him or the Probate Judge. If there is any provision of law requiring claims against the estate of a ward to be verified or approved by the Judge before payment, our attention has not been called to it, and we have failed to discover it. As we have seen, section three hundred and seventy provides that all the laws relative to the accounts of executors and administrators shall govern the accounts of a guardian, so far as they can be made applicable. But this has no reference to the proof or verification of the claims against the estate, and is applicable only to the proceedings relating to the mode of settling and allowing the accounts of the executor, administrator, or guardian. Section three hundred and forty-nine of the Act provides that the guardian
The principal ground of error, however, urged by the appellant is that in his account the guardian is credited with several large sums paid by the Sainsevaines, which, it is alleged, were liens on the “ Aliso Vineyard,” and which, under their contract with Vignes, it is insisted they were bound to pay out of their own funds. The first item alleged to be in this category is three thousand dollars, the amount of a promissory note made by Vignes to his daughter Elizabeth, dated in 1852, and the interest thereon, amounting to one thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars. In the body of the note it is recited that it is made in pursuance of the transaction of the 13th March, 1851, evidently referring to the family settlement made on that day between Vignes and his children, in virtue of which, the first payment to be made to Elizabeth was three thousand dollars; and this note was evidently given as an evidence of that indebtedness. In Racouillat v. Sainsevaine, 32 Cal. 376, we intimated, though it was not necessary to decide the point directly, that the first payment to become due under the family settlement of March 13th, 1851, was not intended to be a lien on the real estate of Vignes; in which event it was not incumbent on the Sainsevaines, under their purchase of the “Aliso,” to pay the first installment due to the children. A further examination of the instrument has but confirmed our first impression, and we are satisfied that this note for three thousand dollars was not an incumbrance on the “Aliso,” and the
On the whole, we find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.