115 Ark. 572 | Ark. | 1914
(after stating the facts).
“1. Under Kirby’s Digest, § 186, providing that ‘lands and tenements shall be assets in thé hands of every executor or administrator for the payment of debts of the testator or intestate.’ If there are no debts due by the decedent, there can be no sale of his real estate to pay expenses of administration thereon, unless it appears that the expenses were incurred in the course of administering the estate to pay debts due personally by the decedent.”
“3. ‘An order of the probate court for the sale of lands of an estate which shows on its face that it was made to pay expenses of administration, and not debts of the decedent, without showing that the expenses of administration were incurred in the course of administering the estate to pay debts due personally by the decedent, is void, and no rights were acquired under it, although the sale was after-wards confirmed.’ ”
Those cases cite a number of others to the same effect.
No question of the right of an administrator who has advanced money for the benefit of the widow or heir, to subrogation, is involved in this case. That is not the relief asked. The case is that of an administrator who has expended money without lawful authority so to do, who asks that a lien be declared upon the lands of the estate and those lands ordered sold in payment of the money thus expended. Such a proceeding is contrary to the policy of our administration law, and the chancery court was without jurisdiction to grant the relief asked, and the demurrer to the complaint was, therefore, properly sustained, and the decree is affirmed.