Shelton v. Smith
Shelton v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a bill filed by two of the children ,of Alfred Smith against Martha M. Smith, their guardian, and her sureties, for a settlement of her guardian account, and for a decree against her and her sureties for the amount unaccounted for by her.
"We find no error in the rulings of the Chancellor on the exceptions to the report of the Clerk. and Master, and so far as the amounts found due to complainants respectively are concerned, we affirm the same.
But it appears that Martha M. Smith was appointed
It appears, further, that the guardian made a settlement with the County Court, in 1860, when she was indebted to complainant, Mary V., in $850 70, and to complainant, Alice, in $910 57. It further appears, that in 1861, the guardian renewed her bond, with S. M. McElroy and E. A. Dickerson' as her sureties. In 1866, two years after Mary Y. was of age, J. M. Smith and S. M. McElroy, the administrators of Alfred Smith, paid over to Martha M. Smith, as guardian, $1,062 35, for Mary Y., and for Alice, who was still a minor, the same sum, $1062 35. Upon these facts, which appear in the bill and answer, it is insisted, that the Chancellor erred in giving a decree against the sureties of the guardian for the amount found due complainants, respectively, received by the guardian from the land sale, and from the decrees in 1866, after one of the wards, Mary V.', had become of age. The bonds of the guardian, executed in 1854 and 1861, are not in the record, but' their due execution is admitted in the pleadings. As the law was before the Code, the sureties of a guardian were not responsible for the proceeds of land sold
But it appears, from the report of the Clerk and Master, that the disbursements made by the guardian for her wards, and which were allowed by the Chancellor, were about equal to the amounts' in her hands at the time McElroy and Dickerson became sureties on her bond in 1861. They are, therefore, entitled to the benefit of a credit for their disbursements. After 1861, J. M. Smith and S. M. McElroy, the administrators of Alfred Smith, paid over to the guardian about $1,000. This payment was made in 1866, two years after complainant, Mary Y., became of age. At that time McElroy and Dickerson were sureties on the guardian bond, but so far as the share of the fund paid over that belonged to Mary Y. is con
The costs of this Court will be paid by Mary M. Smith, S. M. McElroy, and F. A. Dickerson, and the costs below as decreed by the Chancellor.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James R. Shelton v. Martha M. Smith
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published