78 Ind. App. 286 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1922
— Robert D. Eddingfield died intestate December 16, 1920, leaving no widow, child, father, mother, brother or sister, but left as his sole heirs at law a number of nephews and nieces who are his next of kin. Four days later the Union Savings and Trust Company was appointed administrator of the estate of the decedent, and entered upon its duties as adminis
In the case at bar, the trust company’s letters were revoked, not because any misconduct was charged against it, but simply because the statute of priorities required revocation. Where letters of administration are improvidently and irregularly granted no particular formalities are required to procure a revocation. Mills v. Carter (1846), 8 Blackf. 203; Jeffersonville, etc., R. Co. v. Swayne, Admr. (1866), 26 Ind. 477; Williams v. Dougherty (1906), 39 Ind. App. 9, 78 N. E. 1067. The trust company had no interest, inheritable or otherwise, in the property left by the intestate. It had no statutory right to administer the estate. Its right, if any, to compensation for services rendered prior to the revocation of its letters, has not been affected. Its reputation has been in no way disparaged. It was an utter stranger to the estate. It accepted the appointment knowing that its letters were subject to revocation
“But the relief asked for by the petition cannot be granted, because there is no case legally in this court upon appeal of either party, upon which process can be issued. The decree in the Circuit Court is against George M. Savage, executor of the last will and testament of Samuel Savage deceased. There was no other party respondent in the District Court, and the decree was passed against him in his representative character. Before the appeal was prayed on either side, he had ceased to be the representative of the estate of Samuel Savage, and had no control over it, nor any right to interfere with it by prosecuting or appearing to an appeal, or in any other manner. By his removal from the office of executor, he was as completely separated from the business of the estate as if he had been dead, and had no right to appear in or be a party in this or any other court, to a suit which the law confided to the representative of the deceased.” Taylor v. Savage (1843), 1 How. (U. S.) 282, 11 L. Ed. 132.
The trust company should not be permitted to put the estate to the expense of employing counsel and printing briefs; nor should it be permitted to hinder or delay the administration of the estate, nor to harass or annoy its successor, by taking an appeal as the pretended representative of the deceased.
The appeal is dismissed.