Rassieur v. Zimmer

• Decision Date: 28 March 1913
• Citation: 249 Mo. 175,155 S.W. 24
• Parties: RASSIEUR v. ZIMMER.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

155 S.W. 24

249 Mo. 175

RASSIEUR v. ZIMMER.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

March 28, 1913.

1. EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS (§ 228) — CLAIMS — FILING — TIME — "PRESENTED TO THE COURT."

A demand against a decedent's estate, otherwise sufficient, which, after proper notice to the administrator, was lodged with the clerk of the probate court and filed by him before the statutory two years had elapsed, was "presented to the court," in the sense of the statute, from the date of the filing as required by Rev. St. 1909, § 195, and is not barred.

2. COURTS (§ 202) — PROBATE COURTS — PLEADING — CLAIMS.

No formal pleadings are required in the presentation of demands for allowance in the probate court or on an appeal to the circuit court.

3. EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS (§ 227) — CLAIMS — STATEMENT — SUFFICIENCY.

Where a notice of claim against decedent's estate set out the exact nature and extent of the indebtedness, and contained a full copy of the notes on which the claim was based and on which a foreign judgment was recovered, and that the indebtedness would be presented to the probate court for allowance at its next term, the fact that the claim was not put in the form of a statement of indebtedness against the estate did not render it fatally defective.

Error to St. Louis Circuit Court; Robert M. Foster, Judge.

Claim by Leo Rassieur, Jr., as administrator of Margaret Burroughs, deceased, against Nicola P. Zimmer, as administrator of Thomas J. Payne, deceased. From a judgment allowing the claims, defendant brings error. Affirmed.

On the 14th of April, 1905, letters of administration upon the estate of Thomas J. Payne, deceased, were granted by the St Louis probate court to Nicola P. Zimmer. On the 5th of April, 1907, the administrator of the estate of Margaret Burroughs (formerly Margaret Payne) gave notice that he would present for allowance against the estate of said Payne certain notes, giving the dates and amounts thereof, respectively, and setting forth full and complete copies of the same, and for the amount of a judgment rendered by the circuit court of Monroe county, Ill., at its March term, 1905; setting forth a full and complete transcript thereof, and also for a demand setting forth the amount thereof arising out of the payment by Margaret Burroughs (formerly Margaret Payne) of a debt of said Thomas J. Payne, deceased, for which, it was stated, the said Margaret Burroughs and another were sureties; setting forth a complete copy of the note of the intestate and the signatures of the sureties. The notice further specified that these several demands would be presented for allowance at the next term of the probate court, to wit, June term, 1907. After due service of the aforesaid notice of demands, the original thereof was filed on April 8, 1907, with, and properly indorsed by, the clerk of the probate court of St. Louis. At the succeeding term of said probate court, to wit, June, 1907, the parties appeared by their respective attorneys, and the demands specified in said notice of demand were submitted to the probate court, and, after a hearing, were allowed in the amounts claimed. The administrator thereupon appealed to the circuit court, where the parties again appeared; and upon a trial before the judge, a jury being waived, the judgment of the probate court was affirmed, and judgment rendered for $8,201.63. No bill of exceptions was taken or filed in the circuit court, and the motions for new trial and in arrest filed by Nicola P. Zimmer, administrator, were stricken from the docket, because not filed within the statutory time. The defendant administrator brings the case here by writ of error, submitting for review only...