In re Walsh's Estate

Decision Date06 April 1942
Citation25 A.2d 424,131 N.J.Eq. 376
PartiesIn re WALSH'S ESTATE.
CourtNew Jersey Supreme Court

Syllabus by the Court.

1. On petition to revoke letters of administration, proof that decedent was not a resident of this state insufficient.

2. An insurance company that issued a policy protecting the decedent from liability arising from the operation of an automobile, has no interest in the administration of the decedent's estate which entitles it to attack the order appointing an administrator.

Proceeding in the matter of the estate of John T. Walsh, deceased, upon petition by the Government Employees Insurance Company to revoke letters of general administration of the deceased's estate.

Order dismissing the petition advised.

Scammell, Knight & Reese, of Trenton, for petitioner.

John J. Connell, of Jersey City, for administrator-respondent.

JAYNE, Vice Ordinary.

One John T. Walsh sustained fatal injury while operating a motor vehicle in Atlantic County on November 8, 1941. On February 10, 1942, letters of general administration of the decedent's estate were granted by the Ordinary to Paul R. Fenton. Thereafter an action at law was instituted against the administrator by Harold A. Neiswanger to recover damages for bodily injuries and incidental losses alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence of the decedent in the unfortunate mishap. A policy of insurance against such liability had been issued to Walsh prior to the accident by a private corporation known as the Government Employees Insurance Company. This company now petitions the Ordinary to revoke the letters of administration issued to Fenton. The reason assigned is that the decedent was not a resident of New Jersey but in truth a resident of the State of Pennsylvania.

The present application presents two subjects of controversy debated by counsel. The one is essentially factual. The evidence relevant to the factual issue is exceedingly meager. The duly verified petition for the issuance of letters of administration declares that the decedent was a resident of Camden County, New Jersey. Accompanying this* petition were the renunciations, duly acknowledged, of the mother and sister of the deceased in both of which the intestate's domicile is stated to have been in the Borough of Collingswood, Camden County, New Jersey. At the time of his death the decedent was a soldier in the United States Army stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. To overthrow this evidence, the death certificate signed by the county physician of Atlantic County is submitted in which the "former or usual residence" of the deceased is given as No. 5614 Heiskell Street, Germantown, Pennsylvania. The source from which the county physician of Atlantic County acquired this information is not disclosed. Additionally, an affidavit of a representative of the insurance company is tendered in which the deponent states that he examined the records of the tax assessor and Draft Board and made inquiry of the police department of Collingswood and that he ascertained nothing to indicate that the deceased resided in that borough. Moreover, this deponent relates that he made inquiry of the occupant of a residence adjacent to No. 5614 Heiskell Street and of the proprietor and patrons of a nearby tavern and that the persons consulted were of the impression that the deceased resided with his mother at the Heiskell Street address prior to his enlistment in the army. In legal competency and probative force this affidavit is exceedingly deficient. The prayer of the petitioner might well be denied because of the inadequacy of proof that the decedent was not a resident of this state.

The second point debated projects a question of law which is somewhat...

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4 cases
  • Dugan's Estate, In re
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • December 17, 1957
    ...page 1104. In a number of the decisions it is held that the debtor has no interest which gives him standing in court. In re Walsh's Estate, 131 N.J.Eq. 376, 25 A.2d 424; Yazoo & M. V. R. Co. v. Jeffries, 99 Miss. 534, 55 So. 354; In re Stone's Estate, 173 Iowa 371, 155 N.W. 812; In re Wertz......
  • In Re Carpenter's Estate., 245.
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • September 3, 1948
  • Estate of Bily, In re
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • March 2, 1950
    ...596, 71 N.W. 283, 285; In re Barmeier's Estate, 248 App.Div. 636, 288 N.Y.S. 318, affirmed 272 N.Y. 601, 5 N.E.2d 351; In re Walsh's Estate, 131 N.J.Eq. 376, 25 A.2d 424; In re Mayo's Estate, 60 S.C. 401, 38 S.E. 634, 635, 54 L.R.A. In re Upton's Estate, 199 Wash. 447, 92 P.2d 210, 213, 123......
  • Atl. City v. State Bd. of Tax Appeals
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • April 6, 1942

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