Harlow v. Harlow
Harlow v. Harlow
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of assumpsit against an executrix to recover a debt due from the estate. The defense is plene administravit. To this the plaintiff replies, and offers to prove, that the defendant is in possession of real estate, not inventoried nor administered upon, which was conveyed to her by the testator for the purpose of defrauding his creditors ; and the only question we find it necessary to consider, is whether this evidence is admissible.
This precise question was decided in Parcher v. Bussell, 11 Cush., 107, where, as in this case, to avoid the defense of plene administravit,■ the plaintiff sought to impeach the defendant’s account of administration, and offered to show that a full inventory had not been returned. The court held that the decree of the probate court, duly allowing the administrator’s final account, was conclusive, and could not be impeached in an action at law. “It is not the filing of the account,” says Thomas, J., “which affects the plaintiff; it is the allowance of that account by the decree of a court having jurisdiction of the subject and of the parties.”
Plaintiff nonsuit.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.