Fehl's Estate
Fehl's Estate
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The executor, a son of decedent, claimed the balance in his hands for distribution, after payment of a specific legacy of f 100 on account of sums of money alleged to have been expended by him for the support of his mother, as contained in an account furnished by him to the auditor. All of the items
The court below, in its opinion disposing of the exception to the auditor’s report, says: If the right to recover depended on the proof offered by John V. Fehl in support of his claim, independent of the will of decedent, we would think it was insufficient, but when the will is considered in connection with this oral proof, we are unable to find that the auditor is in error. It is true that, when decedent’s will was made nearly two years before her death, she recognized the fact that her estate would be indebted to her son for support rendered her in her lifetime, but how did the recognition of that mere fact, without in any way fixing the amount of the indebtedness excuse the claimant from proving the amount of his claim in the ordinary way or make that sufficient evidence of the same which was otherwise insufficient? The largest item in the account is without date and is for “cash paid for provisions, carpets, table linen, ware, etc., at $12.00 per month, forty-three month, $516.”' How does the will help to prove a lumping charge like that and dispense with proof in regard to it ? The only rational explanation of such a charge is that the household supplies included therein were furnished under a special contract, at a fixed amount, per monthj but where is there a scintilla of evidence of such a contract ?
The rule as to the conclusiveness of facts found by an auditor and approved by the court below in an appellate court so strenuously invoked by the appellee, it need hardly be remarked, relates to facts which have sufficient evidence to sup
The several amounts paid by the claimant to the witnesses, Fowler, $181.20, and Brenizer, $78.60, aggregating $254.80, should be allowed him out of the balance in his hands as administrator for distribution. The balance of his account, being insufficiently proved, should be disallowed, and the balance in his hands appropriated by the auditor to his account, after deducting the said sum of $254.80, should be distributed to and among those entitled to receive the same, under the terms of the will of the decedent.
The decree of the court below is reversed, the exceptions to the auditor’s report sustained, except as to the sum of $254.80 above mentioned, and the record is remitted in order that distribution may be made in accordance with this opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.