Dodson v. Dodson
Dodson v. Dodson
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Williford and A. J. Dodson were partners in the mercantile and produce business at Riceville. Williford Dodson died in June, 1858, and A. J. Dodson was qualified as his executor at the July Sessions, 1858, of the County Court of McMinn, and made a settlement with the clerk of said court, which was duly approved by the court, and ordered to be spread of record on the 5th of November, 1860. When this bill for an account was filed on the 7th of January, 1867, the record of the settlement was lost or mislaid, but was afterwards found. The amount of assets charged in the settlement was $17,831.27,- and the balance charged to the executor, after allowing sundry credits, was $361.99. The correctness of the settlement was sworn to by the executor before the clerk; and in his answer to the original bill in this case, he stated that the aggregate amount of assets returned was a just, true, and perfect account, but that, owing to the loss of his books, he could not give a correct account of disbursements otherwise than by showing the amount of notes and accounts on hand. - After entering into various details, he stated in said answer that he had paid out, or individually assumed, $2,304.32 of the indebtedness of the firm more than he had received, and denied that there were any assets in his hands belonging to the firm or the • estate other than certain notes and accounts. In his amended answer and cross bill, he states that
The evidence in the cause is voluminous, and numerous inquiries were submitted to the Master, 'whose report was excepted to by both parties, but the exceptions were overruled by the Chancellor, and a decree pronounced against the executor and his securities for $625.40 and costs, from which the executor prosecutes this appeal. These exceptions have been carefully examined, but it is not necessary in this opinion to notice them in detail. Some of the exceptions on both sides fail to make special reference to the names of witnesses, the pages of documents relied upon, and are defective in other particulars required to be specified by this court in opinions delivered at its last terms in Nashville and Jackson.
After a diligent examination of the entire record, we are satisfied that the practice would be dangerous to allow an executor, after having made a settlement under oath, and affirmed its correctness in an answer upon oath, to have it reviewed and corrected, at least without allegations in his bill, and proofs to sustain them, minutely and particularly specifying the .various erroneous items. In this case, the executor alleges, in
It may be observed that the executor, adióse depo
It appears that all the assets of "Williford Dodson's estate consisted of his share of the partnership debts and effects, and were in the hands of the executor as surviving partner; and we hold that, as he charged himself with them in the settlement of 5th of November, 1860, when all the transactions were fresh in his recollection, he can not be exonerated by the matters set up in his answer of 1st of February, 1867, and his amended answer and cross bill filed 11th of July, 1867, more than six years after his solemn settlement, and especially when the results sought to be reached in the two answers are so different. Making due .allowance for, the confusion produced by the intermediate civil war, and not unmindful of the suspension of the statute of limitations, we do not hold that either the lapse of time or the statute bars the relief sought, but that, as the executor had two years within which to ascertain the condition of the estate, and made a settlement which the statute declares to be prima facie evidence, he is es-topped to deny its correctness in view of these circumstances, and ought not to be discharged from the
In view of these and various other facts in the record, a recital of which would unnecessarily prolong this opinion, we hold that the executor is bound by the settlement made on the 30th October, 1860, and confirmed by the County Court on the 5th November ensuing, and from which it appears that there .was then a balance in his hands of $361.69; but that he is not entitled to the allowance of $891.56, credited in that settlement, and should be charged with these two sums, amounting in the aggregate to $1,253.25, with interest thereon from the 30th October, 1860. Aside from the force and effect of the settlement, it is an established rule in chancery practice that a party charging himself in a schedule to his answer, can not dicharge himself by another schedule to the same an-
Let a decree be pronounced against the executor and his securities in the appeal bond for the sum of $625.40, and interest thereon from the 22d December, 1869, the date of the Chancellor’s decree, and for all the costs of the original and cross bills in this court and the court below, and against the executor personally for the amount for which he is held liable over and above the amount of the Chancellor’s decree.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.