State v. Culhane
| Decision Date | 08 March 1906 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. CULHANE et al. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Fairfield County; Milton A. Shumway, Judge.
Action by the state of Connecticut against Annie J. Culhane and others on an administrator's bond. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.
Samuel Tweedy, for appellants. Robert E. De Forest and Robert G. De Forest, for the State.
The defendants are, respectively, the principal and surety of a probate bond, conditioned upon the faithful discharge by the defendant, Annie J. Culhane, of her duties as administratrix of the estate of Hugh Campbell, late of Danbury. The complaint alleges that the suit is brought for the benefit of Henry H. Campbell, the son and sole heir of said Hugh Campbell, and that the acts of neglect of said administratrix which have injured the rights of said Henry H. Campbell, were her failure to procure an order from the court of probate, commanding her to distribute and pay over to said heir, moneys and securities to the amount of $14,781.84 remaining in her hands, after payment of all claims of creditors and the expenses of settling the estate, and her failure to pay over or distribute said assets to said heir, except the sum of $5,000.
It appears by the finding that at the time of the death of said Hugh Campbell, on the 30th of October, 1898, he and his son, Henry H. Campbell, were boarding with the defendant, Annie J. Culhane, who was a niece of the intestate, and who prior to her marriage, had lived many years in his family, and had had the care of said Henry H. Campbell, who was about 10 years her junior, and that said Henry H. Campbell continued to board with her, after his father's death, and until his own marriage in September, 1899. On the 3d of November, 1898, upon the application of said Henry H. Campbell, the defendant, Annie J. Culhane, was appointed administratrix of the estate of said Hugh Campbell. The estate of the intestate consisted wholly of personal property made up of money on deposit in savings banks to the amount of $2,681.41, and express and railroad stocks, valued in the inventory filed December 31, 1898, at $10,847.50, among which were 20 shares of New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Stock, 10 shares of Adams Express Company, and 11 shares of Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad stock.
The administratrix paid all the claims against the estate, and on May 4, 1899, filed her final account as follows:
Annie J. Culhane. Administratrix, in Account with Said Estate.
Dr.
To amount of inventory of personal estate as rendered..................
$13,959 59
Interest received...................
By various items of expenses paid...
286 25
Due estate..........................
The finding states that there has been no order of distribution of any part of the estate, and no application for such an order, nor any request that the administratrix apply for such an order. The administratrix testified at the trial that the deceased, Hugh Campbell, when about to depart for Ireland the year before his death, told her that he did not want to make a will, but that if anything happened to him he wanted his son to have the money in the banks, and one-half of the stocks, and wanted her to have the rest of the estate. Shortly after administration had been granted to said Annie J. Culhane she informed Henry H. Campbell what she understood his father's wishes were regarding the disposition of said money and stocks, and he then consented to transfer to her the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the Adams Express Company, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad stock, and thereafter on the 19th of November, 1898, they went together to the judge of probate and informed him what they wanted done, and he sent them to an attorney, who prepared separate assignments to said Annie J. Culhane of Henry H. Campbell's interest, as sole heir at law, of Hugh Campbell in said three named stocks for the expressed consideration of $1 and other valuable considerations, which were then and there executed and acknowledged by said Henry H. Campbell and delivered to Annie J. Culhane. At the same time and place said Henry H. Campbell made and executed his will by which he gave all his estate to said Annie J. Culhane and her two brothers. Before the administratrix filed her final account transfers of the certificates of said stocks were made to Annie J. Culhane with the approval of said Henry H. Campbell, and a little in accordance with transfers made of all the certificates of stocks belonging to the estate. new certificates of stock were issued, the certificates of the shares of express and railroad stocks, his interest in which, Henry H. Campbell had transferred to Annie J. Culhane by the instruments executed November 19, 1898, being issued to her, and the certificates of the other stocks which had belonged to the estate, being issued to Henry H. Campbell. The administratrix, shortly after the expiration of six months limited for the presentation of claims, drew all the money belonging to the estate from the savings banks in which it was deposited and paid it to Henry H. Campbell. The certificates of stock so issued to Annie J. Culhane remained in her name until she sold them for $6,550 and deposited the money in savings banks where it still remains.
The finding states that "in the manner aforesaid and not otherwise the said Annie J. Culhane has disposed of the estate of said Hugh Campbell, and, except the three certificates above mentioned, which were transferred to her, she has delivered the entire estate which came into her hands to Henry Hugh Campbell." Three years after said stocks were so transferred to Annie J. Culhane, said Henry H. Campbell, through his attorneys, for the first time made a claim to them, without having before expressed any dissatisfaction with the "terms of the settlement of the estate by her." Regarding the character of the transaction by which Annie J. Culhane claims to have acquired a valid title to the stocks in question, the finding further states that the assignments to her of November 19, 1898, were without consideration; that Henry J. Campbell was a young man below the average intelligence and without business experience; that ...
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...of an executor or an administrator upon settlement of the administration account to apply to the court for such an order. State v. Culhane, 78 Conn. 622, 626, 63 A. 636; Sanford v. Thorp, 45 Conn. 241. When the order of distribution is made, the Probate Court should direct the administrator......
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...interests may be brought into conflict with his acts in the fiduciary capacity . . . ." Id. at 1184 (quoting State v. Culhane, 78 Conn. 622, 629, 63 A. 636, 638 (1906) (internal quotation marks and citation To be sure, where the fiduciary has not received some kind of benefit that would eng......
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