Griswold v. Griswold

• Decision Date: 11 June 1896
• Citation: 20 So. 437,111 Ala. 572
• Parties: GRISWOLD ET AL. v. GRISWOLD.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

20 So. 437

111 Ala. 572

GRISWOLD ET AL. v. GRISWOLD.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 11, 1896

Appeal from city court of Anniston; James W. Lapsley, Judge.

Bill by H. H. Griswold against A. L. Griswold and others to compel defendant A. L. Griswold, as administrator of the estate of Charles Griswold, deceased, to file an inventory and make a settlement of the estate, and for other relief. From a decree for complainant, defendants appeal. Reversed.

The facts averred in the bill are substantially as follows Charles Griswold, a son of the complainant, was killed while in the employ of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company by the explosion of an engine, on December 28, 1891. His only heirs at law were the complainant and A. L. Griswold and Walter Griswold, his brothers, and one Clarence Thrash, a minor child of a deceased sister. In January, 1892, A. L Griswold was appointed administrator of the estate of Charles Griswold, and, after giving bond, entered upon the administration thereof. The estate consisted of a debt due from A. L. Griswold, the administrator, to his intestate amounting to $150 and interest, and $55 which he had in hand at the time of the intestate's death, and about the same sum due him from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as wages, which was collected by the administrator, and his wearing apparel. Pending the administration the Louisville &amp Nashville Railroad Company, in pursuance of an agreement between it and A. L. Griswold, the administrator, settled the latter's claim against it for causing the death of Charles Griswold by paying to his administrator $1,500. A. L Griswold, as administrator, had made no report or inventory up to the time of the filing of the bill, denied the right of the complainant to any share in the distribution of his intestate's estate, and divided it between himself and Walter Griswold. Before his death, Charles Griswold furnished his brother A. L. Griswold with $150, which was paid by him to the Anniston Loan Company in part purchase of a house and lot in the city of Anniston, title to which was to be in A. L. and Charles Griswold jointly; and this amount, with interest, was due and unpaid at the time of Charles' death. It was then averred in the bill that, since the death of Charles, A. L. Griswold had paid, out of the money belonging to his intestate's estate, $350, in discharge of a mortgage on said lot, and had conveyed by deed the house and lot to his wife, Elizabeth Griswold; that said conveyance was without consideration, and made for the purpose of hindering the collection of complainant's debt against his administrator; and that at the time of filing the bill A. L. Griswold had money in his hands, as administrator of Charles Griswold, deposited in a certain bank. A. L. Griswold and Walter Griswold and their wives, and Clarence Thrash, the minor heir of Charles Griswold, and the bank in which the money was alleged to have been deposited, were made parties to the bill. The prayer of the bill was that A. L. Griswold be required to file an inventory of the estate of his intestate, and to make a settlement of his administration; that Walter Griswold be required to show how much of the estate of Charles Griswold he had received, and that the interest of the complainant in said estate be declared, and that the distributive share of one-half of said estate be ordered to be paid to him; and, "in addition thereto, that complainant be decreed, as father of said Charles, to be entitled to all the money saved from his money, which came, or ought to have come, into the hands of the administrator." It was further prayed that a lien be declared upon the house and lot in Anniston, referred to in the bill, "in favor of the estate of said Charles, and complainant's interest protected, and the trust imposed upon the same for the amount of the money of the estate of said Charles, invested by said Griswold, administrator, in said lot, and for the amount of money borrowed from Charles Griswold in his lifetime by said A. L. Griswold, and by him used in paying on said lot; that a lien and trust be imposed, in favor of the estate of said Charles, and complainant's interest protected, on the money belonging to said estate, which was deposited in the First National Bank of Anniston." In their answer to the bill the respondents admitted the death of Charles Griswold, the appointment of A. L. Griswold as administrator, the payment to him of $1,500 by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, and that he had never made any report or inventory of said estate, and that A. L. Griswold and Walter Griswold denied the right of complainant to share in said estate. In reference to the interest of Charles Griswold in the house and lot in the city of Anniston described in the bill, the respondents averred in their answer, and it was shown by the evidence: That "the lot in controversy was purchased by Joseph Cryan from the Anniston City Land Company on March 17, 1890, for $600, and that he paid $300 in stock of said company at par on said day. That A. L. Griswold purchased the lot from Cryan, and made payments to said company as follows,...