Pullis v. Pullis

• Decision Date: 05 November 1907
• Citation: 127 Mo. App. 294,105 S.W. 275
• Parties: PULLIS v. PULLIS.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

105 S.W. 275

127 Mo. A. 294

PULLIS v. PULLIS.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

November 5, 1907.

ADMINISTRATORS — ADMINISTRATORS DE BONIS NON — APPOINTMENT — GROUNDS.

Under Rev. St. 1899, § 46 [Ann. St. 1906, p. 350], as amended by Act March 26, 1903, Laws 1903, p. 52, providing for an administration de bonis non on the discovery after the final discharge of the administrator of unadministered assets, where there are unpaid allowed demands against the estate, etc., an administration de bonis non cannot be granted on the ground of unadministered assets discovered after the final discharge of the administrator, where there are no unpaid demands, and where the assets may be distributed among those entitled thereto without resort to administration.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Walter B. Douglas, Judge.

Proceedings by Angeline E. Pullis for the appointment of herself as administratrix de bonis non of Augustus Pullis, deceased, in which Thomas R. Pullis appeared and objected. From a judgment appointing the applicant administratrix de bonis non, Thomas R. Pullis appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Harmon J. Boss, for appellant. Jones & Hocker, for respondent.

GOODE, J.

Prior to January 2, 1884, a copartnership known as Pullis Bros. did business in the city of St. Louis. It was composed of three members, Theodore, Augustus, and Thomas R. Pullis, all residents of said city and each having a third interest in the copartnership. Theodore died on the date named, and a few week afterwards his brother Augustus Pullis, as surviving partner, after giving bond, took possession, administered on and wound up the partnership estate. In the course of this administration, the debts of the firm were fully paid, and on October 26, 1889, Augustus filed a final settlement, was discharged as administrator, and the partnership estate closed. Five years afterwards, on October 13, 1894, Augustus Pullis died, leaving a will of which Angeline E. Pullis, his wife, was executrix. Letters testamentary were granted to her by the probate court of St. Louis, and she administered on, finally settled, and on March 22, 1897, closed the estate of her husband. Appellant, Thomas R. Pullis, is the sole surviving member of the firm of Pullis Bros., which was dissolved, as said, January 2, 1884, by the death of Theodore Pullis, and finally closed by the settlement on October 26, 1889, of Augustus Pullis as surviving partner. The facts being as stated, Angeline E. Pullis on July 24, 1905, 21½ years after the dissolution of the partnership and about 16 years after its final settlement, made application to the probate court for appointment as administratrix de bonis non with letters annexed of the estate of Augustus Pullis, which, as said, she had finally settled 8 years before. Nevertheless letters of administration de bonis non were issued to her, and on the same day she made application to the probate court for letters of administration de bonis non on the estate of said partnership, and such letters were likewise granted to her on that day and her bond of $40,000 approved by the court. Thus she was on July 24, 1905, appointed administratrix de bonis non of the estate of her deceased husband, and also appointed administratrix de bonis non of the old partnership estate of Pullis Bros. In her application for letters on the partnership estate, she set out that at the death of Theodore Pullis and the dissolution of the partnership the firm owned 400 shares of stock in the Oak Hill Cemetery Association, of a value not in excess of $20,000, and that said assets were never administered on by Augustus Pullis as surviving partner. The application further stated that the purpose of the petitioner was to secure for the benefit of the copartnership the said shares of the capital stock of the Oak Hill Cemetery Association. Appellant asserts the right to administer as such surviving partner on said assets of the firm if an administration de bonis non is necessary, which he disputes. He filed a motion in the probate court to have the letters granted to respondent Angeline Pullis as administratrix de bonis non of the partnership estate revoked, and, having failed in his proceeding in the probate court, appealed to the circuit court, where the decision was again against him, and he appealed to this court.

As Mrs. Pullis was appointed administratrix de bonis non of the partnership estate simultaneously with her appointment as administratrix de bonis non of her deceased husband's estate, and before she had taken an inventory of the latter estate, it would seem that the right of the appellant as surviving partner to administer was ignored. Rev. St. 1899, §§ 57, 61 [Ann. St. 1906, pp. 355, 357]. The first of the cited sections provides that the party administering on the estate of a deceased partner shall include in his inventory of such estate an inventory of the whole of the partnership estate if the surviving partner shall not have administered on the partnership estate at the time of the making of such inventory; and the second section provides that, if the surviving partner shall neglect or refuse to give bond for the administration of the partnership estate within 30 days of the grant of letters on the estate of the deceased partner, the executor or administrator shall give bond in at least double the value of the partnership...