44 So. 62 | Ala. | 1907
In 1897 R. J. Grady died in Sumter county, and left surviving him his widow, Lucy Grady, and four minor children. Lucy Grady and M. L. Grady, the grandfather of said minors, qualified as guardians of the minors and entered on the discharge of their duties as such. The minors each owned about $150 in money, and jointly 500 or 600 acres of real estate. The minors lived with their mother, Lucy Grady, in their home in the village of Brewersville, in Sumter county. The bill shows that the income arising from the estate of the minors was wholly inadequate for their support and maintenanec; that Lucy Grady, the mother, was without means and wholly unable to support and maintain said minors; and that M. L. Grady furnished all the means for the support, maintenance, and education of said minors out of his own private means. In May, 1900, Lucy Grady died, leaving M. L. Grady the sole guardian of said minors. After the death of Lucy, M. L. Grady continued to furnish the means for the support and education of his wards until his death, which event occurred in 1903. The bill avers that, in order to put in habitable condition the “residence and premises” of the said minors, the said M. L. Grady out of his own means expended the sum of $424, and that said expenditures were for the best interest of the estate of said minors. The bill shows that the complainant is the executor of the last will and testament of M. L. Grady, deceased, and as such executor that he rvas proceeding to make a final settlement of his testator’s guardianship in the probate court of Sumter county. It is then averred that the income
It is an established rule that, when the probate court has acquired jurisdiction of the final settlement of a guardianship, it will, in the. absence of a special equity, retain such jurisdiction to the exclusion of the chancery court. The rule is conceded by the complainant (appellee), and he insists that the special equity is shown by the bill, which is sufficient to oust the jurisdiction of the probate court and for the removal of the settlement to the chancery court. — Bellamy v. Thornton, 103 Ala. 404, 15 South. 831. Section 2296 of the Code of 1896, provides that if improvements or repairs, necessary to keep in tenantable condition the real estate of the word, “cannot be made without an expenditure from the principal 'of the funds of the ward, such expenditures must not be made without an order' of the court of probate; and such order must not be made without proof, by two disinterested witnesses, of facts which show that it would be advantageous to. the ward.” Section 2319 of the Code of 1896, provides that “if the income of the minor is insufficient for his maintenance and education, in a manner suitable to his prospects and condition in life, and such maintenance and education cannot be furnished
Affirmed.