Administration of the estate of a person dying intestate must be granted to some one or more of the persons hereinafter mentioned, and they are respectively entitled thereto in the following order:

1. 1. The surviving husband or wife, or some competent person whom he or she may request to have appointed.
2. 2. The children.
3. 3. The father or mother.
4. 4. The brothers or sisters.
5. 5. The grandchildren.
6. 6. The next of kin entitled to share in the distribution of the estate.
7. 7. The creditors.

8. 8. Any person legally competent.

   If the decedent was a member of a partnership at the time of his decease, the surviving partner must in no case be appointed administrator of his estate.

R.L. 1910, § 6245; Amended by Laws 1961, SB 84, p. 440, § 1, emerg. eff. March 3, 1961.