21 Wash. 575 | Wash. | 1899
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Relator filed her petition in the superior court of Pierce county, stating that John W. Sprague died testate in Tacoma about the 24th day of December, 1893, leaving an estate in Pierce county, consisting of real and personal property reputed to be of great value; that about the 29th day of December, 1893, the last will and testament of Sprague was, on petition of James R. Hayden and Otis Sprague (who were named in the will as executors), admitted to probate and letters testamentary were issued to Hayden and Otis Sprague; that an order of the probate court was entered on January 6, 1894,
It is evident that the deceased intended to make, and did execute, a non-intervention will. The effect of such a will has been construed in a number of cases before this court. It was said in Moore v. Kirkman, 19 Wash. 605 (54 Pac. 24) :
“ Section 955 was evidently intended to authorize one while living, and when competent, to provide for the management, disposition and distribution of his property after death, without administration in the probate court.
If the testator has chosen to dispose of his estate without the intervention of the probate court, the procedure controlling the administration in probate is not applicable, and the notice to creditors published by appellants as executors was without any legal effect.”
See, also, Newport v. Newport, 5 Wash. 114 (31 Pac. 428) ; Smith v. Smith, 15 Wash. 239 (46 Pac. 249).
And again, in State ex rel. Phinney v. Superior Court of King County, ante, p. 186 (57 Pac. 337), it was determined that § 2, ch. 98, of the Laws of 1897, requiring an executor acting without the intervention of the probate court to file an inventory within thirty days after the passage of the act, was not applicable to non-intervention wills made under the statute (§ 955, supra), and fully reaffirming the construction that the probate court had no
The writ is denied.
Gordon, O. J., and Eullerton and Dunbar, JTJ., concur.