State ex rel. Bain v. Browning
State ex rel. Bain v. Browning
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit upon a guardian and curator’s bond. In 1895 James Bain was appointed
. “Defendant further states that on the — day of ---, 1899, relator attained her majority and has not been under any legal disability since that time, and that relator failed to exhibit any claim or cause of action against said estate of Nathan Wansley, deceased, within two years from the date of said letters, and not until the-10th day of February, A. D. 1902, and that the regular terms of the probate court of Holt county, Missouri, are held on the second Mondays in February, May, August, and November.”
Plaintiff filed reply denying certain matters in defendant’s answer but admitting the facts stated in his plea of the statute of limitations. Defendant moved for judgment on the pleadings, which motion was sustained by the court, and plaintiff appealed.
The contention of the appellant is, that the cause of
It is not denied that the cause of action accrued during the administration of the estate of Wansley within two years from date of letters. The question, therefore, is not whether two years had expired since the cause of action accrued, but whether plaintiff’s cause of action had been exhibited against the estate of Wansley two years after administration on his estate. Under the general statute of limitations, plaintiff’s cause of action would have been barred after the expiration of ten years from the time it accrued, and for the purposes of this case it is immaterial whether it accrued when she reached her majority or at the February term of the court next thereafter when the curator should have made his final settlement, for the reason that the ten-years statute of limitation has no application, but section 185, Revised Statutes 1899, governs. “All demands not exhibited in two years shall be forever barred,” etc. The statute begins to run when the cause of action accrues, and if the cause of action accrues during administration, the demand must be exhibited within two years, or it is forever barred. Tenny v. Lasley, 80 Mo. l. c. 668; Burton v. Rutherford, 49 Mo. 255; Ayers, Adm’r, v. Donnel, Ex’r, 57 Mo. 396; Pearce v. Calhoun, 59 Mo. 271.
Cause affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.