Bennett's Estate
| Decision Date | 03 February 1890 |
| Parties | ESTATE OF H. K. BENNETT, DECEASED. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Before PAXSON, C. J., GREEN, CLARK, WILLIAMS, McCOLLUM and MITCHELL, JJ.
APPEAL BY C. H. BENNETT ET AL. FROM THE ORPHANS' COURT OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY.
No. 107 January Term 1890, Sup. Ct.; court below, number and term not given.
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Mr. Avery D. Harrington (with him Mr. Furman Sheppard), for the appellant:
The distribution of a decedent's estate among creditors, as well as legatees, belongs exclusively to the Orphans' Court; and creditors may be required to present their claims at the adjudication of the estate, or lose their claim upon the fund for distribution: Hammett's App., 83 Pa. 392. In the present case, it was shown that final distribution of the fund could not be made until sometime in the spring of 1891, in the event of an appeal to this court, and that this delay would entail a great loss to the estate in interest, as well as in costs and expenses.
Mr. C. Berkeley Taylor (with him Mr. John G. Johnson), for the appellees:
The only case cited to show that the sound discretion of the court below can be reviewed in this court, is Hammett's App., 83 Pa. 392, which was decided upon widely different facts, but clearly sustains the ruling of the auditing judge. In that case, the balance for distribution was $84,688.67, and no creditors appeared claiming any part of the fund; and, at the suggestion of the accountants that large suits were pending, the court directed this balance to be withheld from distribution. Upon appeal to this court this direction was reversed.
The appellants' complaint is that the court below erred "in refusing to distribute the whole fund in the hands of the accountant among those entitled to it, according to law," and Hammett's App., 83 Pa. 392, was cited as sustaining their view.
The court set aside the sum of $9,000 in the hands of the accountant to meet a claim of H. L. Gaw & Co. against the estate. Suit had been brought upon this claim in the Common Pleas; two trials had been had, and the cause is still pending. Counsel for the plaintiffs in that suit appeared before the auditing judge, and asked that they should be allowed to have their claim determined by a jury in the suit then pending, and that, of the balance in the hands of the accountant, a sufficient sum should be set aside to await the result of that suit. This the Orphans' Court allowed, and set aside a portion of the fund as before stated. In this we see no error. Had the court proceeded to hear the claim, the plaintiffs would have been entitled to an issue, had it been demanded in proper time and under proper circumstances. We can therefore see...
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