Opinion by
The appellant was, on June 22, 1891, appointed guardian of Mary Alberta Emanuel, who, on August 29, 1897, attained her majority. The guardian filed a final account, to which, the ward filed exceptions. An auditor was appointed, who, after a full hearing, filed a report finding that the guardian had been supinely negligent in the management and collection of the rents of certain real estate of the ward, and recommending a decree surcharging the accountant. The court below, upon exceptions to the report of the auditor, sustained the finding as to the supine negligence of the guardian, but reduced the amount of the surcharge, and, thereupon, ,the guardian took this appeal.
There were three items upon which the appellant was surcharged : (1) The rentals of a house on Filbert street, Harrisburg, of which the ward was sole owner; (2) the share of the ward in the rentals of a house on North street, in which the interest of the ward was one undivided seventh; and (3) the court reduced the amount for which appellant claimed credit, for necessary traveling expenses. As to the third item, the burden was upon the accountant, and he failed to establish by evidence, that the expenditure had been made in the performance of the duties of his trust. The court reduced the credit for such expenses, which action was fully warranted by the testimony. This item is not worthy of further consideration, and the seventh assignment of error, which is founded upon it, is dismissed.
From the time the guardian was appointed up to April 1, 1894, the rents of the Filbert street property were collected by E. M. Bishop, administrator of the estate of the father of Mary A. Emanuel. The auditor found that the appellant should be surcharged for the amount of the rents for this period, but the learned court below overruled this finding, and found that the administrator had applied the rentals to the payment of liens
The auditor found that the ward of appellant was entitled to one seventh of a house and'lot on North street, Harrisburg, which yielded an average rental of #10.00 per month; that, during the whole time of appellant’s guardianship, this house was rented and occupied, and that there was, or should have been), collected from this property, for the interest of said ward, the sum of #99.75. The only exception to these findings filed in the court below, was: “ That, as to the North street house, the accountant’s ward had but an undivided one-seventh interest; that the property, when occupied, was occupied by a tenant under a lease from an administratrix for the benefit of the joint owners, and she had, at all times, control of it, and that this precluded the guardian from exercising the landlord’s power in renting or collecting the rent.” The learned court below overruled this exception, but reduced the item of surcharge to #74.25, by an allowance for taxes and repairs. The exception made no question of the ownership of this interest, as real estate, and the court below was not called to pass upon that question. It is now suggested that the will of the grandfather of the ward had directed this property to be sold, upon the death of his widow, and the proceeds to be distributed equally among his children, and that, by force of this direction, this property is to be considered as a part of the personal estate of the ward’s deceased father. That the direction to sell did work such a conversion is not to be doubted. It is equally true that the parties interested in the fund may elect to accept the land unconverted, and, if they do so, they immediately acquire an estate therein, and such election to take the land, as land, may be established by parol evidence: Willing v. Peters,
The costs in the court below and before the auditor were occasioned by the failure of the appellant to properly account, and were justly imposed upon him. The fee of the auditor was fixed by the court in accordance with the terms of the Act
Decree affirmed and appeal dismissed at costs of appellant.
