259 Wis. 398 | Wis. | 1951
The record discloses that the said Emil Reinke entered into an agreement or “bond of support” June 9, 1924, under which he was bound to furnish care and attention to his father and mother during their declining years. It appears that from that time and for many years the terms of the contract were carried out. During the year 1931 the mother died. On July 13, 1945, an injury was sustáined
The county court in entering this judgment recognized the claims so far as they resulted in requiring said Emil Reinke and Alvina Reinke to account to the estate of Frederick 'Reinke “for the amount of expense incurred for room and board at the Shawano Municipal Hospital” for the period “commencing six months after the injury of Frederick Reinke to the date of his removal from the Shawano Municipal Hospital . . . said period amounting to six hundred twenty-nine days,” and decided that the rate to be charged therefor was $4 per day and fixed the sum for which Emil Reinke was to account to the estate of Frederick Reinke at the amount of $2,516. There is an appeal by the administrator with the will annexed, and a motion by the Shawano Municipal Hospital to review that part of the judgment which denied the petition that the appellants be required to account to the estate of Frederick Reinke for the sum of $7,000 mentioned in the “bond of support.”
We are concerned with the proceedings in probate on the estate of Frederick Reinke, deceased, where the Shawano Municipal Hospital petitioned the county court for the relief described, and, among other things, asserts that Emil and Alvina Reinke are indebted in the amount of $2,516 to the estate. The petitioner demanded recovery by the estate of that sum.
The county court, assuming that it had jurisdiction of the cause of action, as well as of the parties, entertained the
While the jurisdiction of the county court extends to matters relating to the settlement of the estates of deceased persons, there is no power conferred under which that court obtains jurisdiction to enforce claims against a debtor to the estate unless such debtor files a claim against the estate. The executor or administrator shall exhibit the claims of the deceased in offset to the claims of the creditor and apply the balance against or in favor of the estate. Sec. 313.05, Stats.; Estate of Kallenbach, 184 Wis. 171, 199 N. W. 152; Estate of George, 225 Wis. 251 (on rehearing p. 264), 274 N. W. 294; Estate of Thompson, 212 Wis. 172, 248 N. W. 167.
It has always been held that a county court is a court of limited jurisdiction and has only such jurisdiction as is conferred upon it by statute. In probate it is limited in the respects under consideration to those matters which are incidental to its probate jurisdiction. “Merely because the estate of a decedent has interests of various kinds, that fact does not operate to extend the jurisdiction of that court to cases involving all of those interests.”' We have just quoted from the opinion in the case of Estate of George, supra (on
While the county court had no jurisdiction over the proceedings against the alleged debtor, it did have jurisdiction to provide a means for certain relief. When the record discloses the existence of a probable cause of action in favor of the estate, and the facts warrant, it is within its jurisdiction to “authorize the administrator, to begin an action against the debtor in a court of competent jurisdiction.” Estate of Kallenbach, supra, page 175. See also secs. 269.52 and 287.06 (1), Stats.
When the dispute described in the statement of facts arose, Emil Reinke, who had been named in the will as executor, tendered his resignation as such executor, the resignation was accepted, and Ira J. Weeks was appointed administrator with the will annexed. The matter now stands before the court with the appellants making no claim of liability to them on the part of the estate which could be used as an offset to the claimed indebtedness due the estate as advanced by respondents in the probate proceedings. The appellants are asserting as a defense that they did not breach their contract with the deceased, and have raised the question of jurisdiction. This leaves the estate to its claimed cause of action, to be heard in the circuit court or one of co-ordinate jurisdiction. The county court in probate does not have that jurisdiction.
By the Court. — The judgment providing for recovery against said Emil Reinke and Alvina Reinke, his wife, in the