R. L. Aylward Coal Co. v. Luyckx

• Decision Date: 03 January 1933
• Docket Number: No. 113.,113.
• Citation: 261 Mich. 394,246 N.W. 156
• Parties: R. L. AYLWARD COAL CO. v. LUYCKX et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

261 Mich. 394

246 N.W. 156

R. L. AYLWARD COAL CO.

v.LUYCKX et al.

No. 113.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Jan. 3, 1933.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Wayne County, in Chancery; Guy E. Smith, Judge.

Suit by the R. L. Aylward Coal Company against Edmund T. Luyckx, administrator of the estate of Elizabeth Aylward, deceased, and others, in which defendant Harold N. King filed a cross-bill. From orders dismissing the bill and cross-bill, plaintiff and defendant Harold N. King appeal.

Affirmed.

Argued before the Entire Bench except FEAD, J.Atkinson, ortman & Shock, of Detroit, for appellant R. L. Aylward Coal co.

Thomas J. Donahue, of Detroit (Frank W. Atkinson, of Detroit, of counsel), for appellant King.

Frank A. Martin and Henry C. L. Forler, both of Dertoit, for appellees Edmund T. and Helen Aylward Luyckx.

BUTZEL, J.

The sole question presented in the instant case is whether a court of chancery is the proper forum in which to determine and enforce the rights of a claimant under an alleged lost, destroyed, or suppressed will that has not been probated in accordance with section 15547, Comp. Laws 1929.

The pleadings show that the Aylward Coal Company occupied premises in Detroit leased from Elizabeth Aylward, now deceased. Upon the latter's death, her niece, Helen Aylward Luyckx, representing herself to be the sole heir of decedent, petitioned the probate court for the county of Wayne for the appointment of her husband, Edmund T. Luyckx, as administrator. Upon the petition being heard and granted, the bond was fixed at the high figure of $100,000 because of the claim of Harold N. King that he was entitled to the property occupied by the coal company by virtue of a will that had been lost, destroyed, or suppressed, and never probated. The personal property of the estate was valued at $200,000, an amount more than ample to pay debts and costs of administration. The estate owns half of the stock of the Aylward Coal Company; Harold N. King owns the other half, with the exception of one share belonging to his wife, and another share transferred to the secretary of the corporation. King is manager and his wife vice president of the coal company.

Upon the coal company's failure to pay rent for four months, the administrator served it with notice to quit. Thereupon the coal company, as plaintiff, filed a bill of interpleder, setting forth that it owed four months' rent; that Mrs. Aylward did not die intestate, but that during her lifetime she had executed a will devising the property occupied by the coal company to Harold N. King who now demands that the rent be paid to him; that, inasmuch as the value of the personal property of the estate exceeded the amount of the debts, King became entitled to the property and the rents therefrom immediately on the death of decedent; that Mrs. Luyckx, claiming to be the sole heir of the decedent, would have become entitled to the property and the rents therefrom upon the death of decedent were it not for the devise to King; that, further, the administrator demanded the rent and had served the notice to quit. Plaintiff offered to pay the rent to the clerk of the court and asked for a judicial determination as to whether it should be paid to King, Mrs. Luyckx, or the administrator, interpleaded as defendants. On motion the bill of complaint and King's cross-bill were dismissed.

The following facts are apparent from the pleadings: The amount of the bond of the administrator was fixed at $100,000 to protect any possible rights that King might have. Mrs. Luyckx had made no claim to the rent and desired that it be paid to the administrator who had been appointed upon her petition. King had not taken any action in the probate court to prove the lost, suppressed, or destroyed will in the manner provided by law. See section 15547, Comp. Laws 1929.

They further show that...