67 Mo. 303 | Mo. | 1878
This is a proceeding instituted in the county court of Boone county in which it is alleged that in 1865 John T. Graves was appointed administrator of 'the estate Joseph W. Graves, deceased, and continued as such without completing the administration till his death, which occurred in 1874; that on the 7th of August, of that year, defendant was appointed administrator of said John T. Graves, and plaintiffs were appointed administrators de bonis non of the estate of said Joseph W. Graves. It is further alleged that the said John T. Graves, as administrator of Joseph W. Graves, had collected a large amount of money as the proceeds of the sale of personal property, which he had failed to account for, and the court is asked to require defendant, as administrator of John T. Graves^ to make an amended settlement and charge therein the sums of money so received and not accounted for, and to pay the balance, if' any, over to the plaintiffs. Defendant,
It is claimed, on the part of defendant, that the jfidgment rendered by the county court was' based upon an annual settlement and could not therefore, be appealed from. This claim, we think, is not supported by the facts. In proceedings before county courts in matters pertaining to the administration of estates, where no formal pléadings are required, substance and not form is to be looked'to, and although in the petition filed by plaintiff, the settlement which defendant was called upon to make, was styled an amended settlement, it was really a final' one, as contemplated in § 47, 1 Wag. Stat., 77, and the judgment of the county court allowing the sum of $851.89, against the estate of plaintiffs’ intestate, was such a final determination of the matter in controversy as authorized an appeal.
It is also urged that even though the circuit court had jurisdiction to try the cause on appeal, it had none to render judgment against defendant, and in support of this view we have been cited to Secs. 68 and 69, Wag. Stat., 81, 82. While these sections would not authorize the rendition of such judgment as was rendered in the case, it does not follow that the court had no jurisdiction to render it on other provisions of the law. When an administrator dies without accounting for money or assets which came into his hands in the course of his administration, an administrator 6e bonis non, who succeeds him, may either sue
In support of plaintiffs’ claim, evidence was introduced, showing that John T. Graves as administrator of Jos. W. Graves, had collected, as the proceeds of the sale of various articles of personal property, the sum of $3,-139.95. This was admitted as the record shows, by defendant. Evidence was also introduced, tending to show that he had collected of one Merry the further sum of $170, which added to the admitted amount, aggregates $3,309.95. Defendant, to overcome the case thus made, introduced the inventory, appraisement and sale-bill of the property of J. W. Graves, deceased, and four annual settlements of Jno. T. Graves. The settlements thus offered, while they are prima fade evidence of their correctness, are not conclusive on the parties interested, and in the final adjustment of accounts are subject to review and correction. They are regarded as mere exhibits of the condition of the estate on which orders for distribution, or for the payment of debts, according to the circumstances of
We think the conclusion reached by the trial court was fully justified by the evidence, and that the law applicable to the case was embraced in the instructions given by the court, and that the third and fifth instructions were properly refused, the fifth because it was inconsistent with itself, and the third because it required the court to ignore the fact that other property than that mentioned in the instruction was neither inventoried nor appraised. Judgement affirmed,
Affirmed.