Anderson v. Duke
Anderson v. Duke
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was a bill filed by the appellees against the appellant in the district chancery court at Holly Springs. The allegations of the bill, material to the decision of this appeal, appear to be in substance, as follows: The complainants are creditors of Aaron Root, deceased, of whom the appellant was administrator at the time of filing the bill. They allege that the intestate’s estate was large, and that large sums of money came to the hands of the appellant; that he reported the estate insolvent in 1841, and that commissioners appointed to audit claims against it, reported claims greatly exceeding the amount of assets which the administrator had reported to the probate court. These are the claims upon which the bill is filed, and their amounts respectively are stated in the bill. They charge that the administrator had not paid any of the debts of the estate; that he has bought up many of the claims at a great depreciation, using the funds of the estate for that purpose, and now holds such claims as vouchers for money paid by him in discharge of them; that he has had the large sums of money reported by him as funds of the estate in his hands for a long time, and has used them in buying lands, negroes, and other property, and in loaning them at interest, whereby he has acquired much property, and made great profits to himself; that
After the appellant had answered the bill, an amended bill was filed reiterating the charge of the purchase of claims against the estate and property, with the funds of the estate, and especially that he bought certain negroes with such funds, and took the title in his own name, and now pretends to hold them as his individual property, when he should be declared to hold them as trustee for the creditors ; and this bill shows that since the original bill was filed, the appellant has been removed as administrator, and a new administrator appointed. The prayer is for an account of all assets and effects of every kind in his hands belonging to the estate, and for general relief. To this bill, the appellant filed a demurrer, which was overruled, and from that order this appeal is taken.
The ground of error insisted upon in behalf of the appellant is, that a court of chancery has not jurisdiction to grant the relief prayed for, because the probate court has full and exclusive jurisdiction, and is competent to grant the relief sought;, and hence that the demurrer was improperly overruled.
It is undoubtedly true, that the probate court is the proper tribunal in which to obtain relief upon several of the matters set up in the original and amended bills. Thus the probate court was the appropriate tribunal to compel a true account of the assets received by the administrator, and to make discovery
The bill being good in this respect, and the demurrer being to the whole bill, it was. properly overruled.
The decree is, therefore, affirmed, and the cause remanded, and the appellant required to answer the part of the bill above mentioned within ninety days.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Benjamin D. Anderson v. Henry Duke
- Status
- Published