115 Ga. 965 | Ga. | 1902
Griffin applied for letters of administration de bonis non with the will annexed upon the estate of Towner. Certain persons, describing themselves as heirs at law of Towner, appeared
The code provides that every application made to the ordinary for the granting of any order shall be by petition in writing, stating the ground of such application and the order sought. Civil Code, § 4254. It is also provided that all objections or caveats to an order sought shall be in writing, setting forth the grounds of such caveat. Civil Code, §4256. It has been held that a caveat to an application for letters of administration should show that the caveator is interested in the estate, either as a creditor of the estate or an heir at law of the decedent. Williams v. Williams, 113 Ga. 1006, and case cited. The reason of this rule is that a mere interloper should not be allowed to interfere where a proper application has been made for letters of administration upon the estate. A person who is not concerned in any way in the question should,, of course, not be heard before the' court. ‘ While there is no ruling to the effect that an application for letters of administration must show that the applicant-is an heir at law or a creditor or for some other reason entitled to the administration, it would seem that the principle at the foundation of the ruling above referred to would apply in such a case. Except in those cases where’the law authorizes the county administrator or the clerk of the superior court to be appointed administrator upon an estate, the law does not rec
In the present case the application does not allege that the applicant has any interest whatever in his own right in the estate, or that he represents, either as next friend or otherwise, any one who is interested in the estate. . He does not show upon the face of his application that he has any right to bring before the court the question as to whether administration should be had upon the estate. The section of the code which requires that every application made to the ordinary must state “ the ground of such application,” when applied to a petition for letters of administration, means that the applicant must show in his application that he has such an interest in the estate, either in his own right or as the representative of some other person, as would authorize him to bring the estate before the court in order that it might determine whether there should be representation thereon. See, in this connection, 1 Woer. Am. Law Ad. (2d ed.) §261, *562. It is said, though, that this court has held in Beale v. Hall, 22 Ga. 431, that “ the pleadings need not aver the grounds upon which an administrator is entitled to the letters, even if the letters express them.” It will be found upon an examination of that case that the question now under consideration was not involved. That was an action of trover brought by an administrator, and it was simply held that the pleadings in the trover case need not contain any averment of the grounds upon which the administrator was entitled to the administration. Nor is there anything in the case of De-
Judgment reversed.