Ruhlman v. Lowe
Ruhlman v. Lowe
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by two of the residuary legatees from the order of the trial court decreeing partial distribution in the sum of $2,500 to Albert J. Ruhlman.
The testatrix died in 1939. By her last will and the codicil thereto, the testatrix bequeathed to Albert J. Ruhlman the sum of $10,000, her stock in the Standard Oil Company of California and her stock in A. J. Ruhlman & Company. She devised her real property in San Francisco to her nieces Elsa K. Dernham and Helen M. Lowe, who are the appellants herein, and devised her real property in Monterey County to her niece Elsa K. Dernham. The residue of the estate was bequeathed to said nieces and others. Monte A. Dernham, the husband of Elsa K. Dernham, was named as executor and he qualified as such on October 5, 1939.
No inventory and appraisement was filed by the executor until January 7, 1943, although on April 3, 1942, the probate court had ordered the inventory filed. In response to that order, said executor had filed a purported inventory without an appraisement. It was not until after the petitioner had filed his petition for partial distribution and also his petition for removal of the executor that the executor filed the inventory and appraisement. It appears therefrom that the estate of the testatrix was appraised at $85,619.48. It consisted of cash in excess of $14,600, certain real estate and also stocks and other personal property. The 20 shares of the Standard Oil Company were appraised at $660 and the 376% shares of A. J. Ruhlman & Co. were appraised at $12,294.47. A promissory note executed in favor of the testatrix by A. J. Ruhlman & Co. in the principal sum of $2,500 was appraised at $262.93 and a “debt due decedent from A. J. Ruhlman & Co. and/or A. J. Ruhlman” was appraised at “nil.”
Objections to Albert J. Ruhlman’s petition for distribution were filed by the executor and by the appellants herein. Hearings were had upon said petition but the hearing upon the petition for removal of the executor was continued and remained undetermined when the order for partial distribution was entered. The inventory and appraisement was filed after the hearings had been commenced upon said petition for distribution.
Upon said hearings, it appeared that all debts and claims against the estate had been paid except a balance due to the State of California for inheritance taxes, which taxes with respect to the petitioner amounted to $1,825.73 according to an estimate of the inheritance tax appraiser; that there re
Appellants contend that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding that there were sufficient assets to make the distribution without loss or injury to the estate or any person interested therein. In support of this contention, they discuss certain alleged offsets against petitioner’s legacy con
Appellants also contend that certain evidence was improperly excluded. The objections and rulings are not specifically set forth but appellants state that the excluded evidence consisted of certain “data, reports and information coming to the possession of the executor and upon which he predicates, to some extent, several of his items of counterclaim and offset.” It is a sufficient answer to this contention to state that said data, reports and information concerned only possible claims against the corporation. As above indicated, we find nothing in the record which would warrant the disregard of the corporate entity and we find no error in the rulings of the trial court excluding the evidence concerning possible claims against the corporation.
The final contention of appellants is that the trial court erred in denying their request for a continuance for the purpose of producing evidence of the financial condition of the corporation and of the value of its stock at the time of the hearing. We find no error in this ruling. The hearings on the petition started on December 21, 1942, and were continued from time to time. On January 8, 1943, the trial judge warned the parties to be prepared to conclude the matter at the next session. It is interesting to note that on January 11, 1943, when counsel for appellants suggested a further continuance, counsel for the executor objected to such continuance. We find no error in the denial of a continuance under the circumstances and, in any event, in view of the order distributing only a portion of the legacy and withholding ample to pay the inheritance taxes, we find no prejudice in denying to appellants the opportunity to produce evidence which they claim would have shown that the corporation was in bad financial condition and that its stock had little, if any, value.
The order appealed from is affirmed.
Nourse, P. J., and Dooling, J. pro tem., concurred.
A petition for a rehearing was denied October 23, 1943, and appellants’ petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied November 18, 1943.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.