Langford v. Spain
Langford v. Spain
070rehearing
On Rehearing.
It is contended on motion for rehearing that this court has
As to the first contention, it is true that Code § 113-903 (4) relating to the laws of descent provides that “lineal descendants of children shall stand in the place of their deceased parents”; and in Code § 113-903 (5) it is also provided, as to brothers and sisters who stand in the second degree to the intestate, that “the children or grandchildren of brothers and sisters deceased shall represent and stand in the place of their deceased parents.” These provisions relate to distribution, but they do not mean that the children of a deceased parent have the same voting-power as their deceased parent would have had in the choice of an administrator, as against a living child of the intestate: Dawson v. Shave, 162 Ga. 126, held that, under Code § 113-903 (5) a living sister of an intestate was entitled to letters of administration over children of deceased sisters although the latter constituted a majority both numerically and in point of interest. Sullens v. Pierce, 45 Ga. App. 207, held that, under Code § 113-903 (4), it was immaterial how the children of deceased children of an intestate voted in the selection of an administrator, and considered only the votes of the living children of the intestate. Accordingly, the plaintiff in error here, if otherwise qualified, is entitled to letters of administration although a majority of the other heirs (both numerically and in point of interest) select another person.
As to the second contention, it was held in Headman v. Rose, 63 Ga. 458 (6), that, if the person otherwise entitled to letters of administration for any legal cause should be disqualified, she would nevertheless be entitled to select some proper qualified person to be appointed in her stead. The allegations of the caveat here attack the fitness of the plaintiff in error to be ad
Accordingly, the verdict of the jury, finding against both the plaintiff in error (only living child of the intestate) and the person named by her to serve in her stead if she were disqualified, was without evidence to support it.
Opinion of the Court
1. Where a man dies intestate leaving no wife and no relatives except one daughter and the seven children of two deceased sons, if all the said surviving relatives are sui juris- and qualified to administer on the estate of the intestate, the person selected in writing by the daughter of the intestate is entitled to letters of administration in preference to the person selected in writing by the grandchildren of the intestate, although the grandchildren constitute a majority of the heirs of the estate both numerically and in point of interest. Dawson v. Shave, 162 Ga. 126 (132 S. E. 912); s. c., 35 Ga. App. 343 (133 S. E. 313); Sullens v. Pierce, 45 Ga. App. 207 (164 S. E. 93).
2. And this has been held to be true whether she is herself qualified or disqualified. Mabry v. Mabry, 65 Ga. App. 132 (15 S. E. 2d 447); Rivers v. Alsup, 188 Ga. 75 (2 S. E. 2d 632); Headman v. Rose, 63 Ga. 458, 465; Sampson v. Sampson, 44 Ga. App. 803 (163 S. E. 326).
3. Under an application of the foregoing rules of law to the facts of this case, the jury, on appeal from the ordinary, had no discretion but to name the person selected by Mrs. Langford, as he is of sound mind and laboring under no disability and she was the sole next of kin. See, in this connection, Sampson v. Sampson, supra, and citations.
4. In view of the foregoing ruling, it is unnecessary to pass upon the other errors assigned in the motion for new trial.
Judgment reversed.
Reference
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