Barroll v. Peters

Bowie, C. J., delivered the opinion of this Court: The appellees filed their petition on the 23d of July 1862, in the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore City, charging, £ ‘that it appears by the last account passed in your honorable Court, by B. C. Barroll, administrator of George Peters, deceased, there is a cash balance of about $370 in the hands of the administrator, due the estate of said deceased; that Sally Peters, widow of said George Peters, departed this life in the month of June 1861, and that there is no valid reason why the estate should not be closed and settled.” Wherefore they prayed that the administrator pass a final account and settle the estate without delay, and that the usual subpoena be issued against the appellant as administrator d. b. n. ¹⁷⁵ The petition was amended by the appellees on the 4th of August ensuing, stating “that heretofore they exhibited their original petition in this Court, but omitted to charge therein that the said James Peters was the son of George Peters, deceased, and interested in the final settlement of the estate of said deceased.” Wherefore they pray that the administrator B. C. Barroll, may answer. The appellant on the 7th of August instant, appeared and filed his answer'admitting the passage of his 7th account in which he is charged with §33,194.04, consisting almost entirely of leasehold and fee-simple estate, also admitting the death of Bally Peters, bat alleging that the will of George Peters devises all his property to H. Rieman and L. Warfield, in trust for the purposes therein mentioned; that the devisees in trust have renounced the trust and refused to act or take the property devised to them, and proceedings are now pending in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City for the appointment of trustees to fill the places of the devisees in trust; and until such appointment, there is no one with whom the administrator can finally account and close up the estate in the Orphans’ Court. That the petitioners had filed a hill in said Circuit Court as a Court Equity, against the appellants and others, charging that of it was necessary for carrying out the intention of the testator and proper administration of the estate, that the whole should he administered in that honorable Court, and it was impracticable to have the same done in any other way or in any other than a Court of Equity. That the hill prayed a decree for an account against the appellant as administrator d. b. n. of George Peters, and that he might bring the estate into that Court to be administered under the direction thereof, &c.; and that the appellant had answered said bill, and was waiting to account as soon as a decree for that purpose may be passed.

That a bill had also been filed in the Circuit Court of the Uuited States for the final settlement and adjudication of the estate of said George Peters, to which the appellant had been made a party, and ¹⁷⁶ answered the same, as appeared by copy of said bill and answer, filed as a part of appellant’s answer. The appellant submitted that the final accounting of his administration must necessarily and legally be with the Chancery Court, &c. To this answer the appellees, on the 8th of August, filed an order “to enter a general replication.” Afterwards, on the same day, they filed a copy of “George Peters’ 6th administration account,” or the sixth account of Benjamin C. Barroll acting administrator d. b. n. with the will annexed, of George Peters deceased, by which it appears the balance in cash in the appellant’s hands was $370.04, the amount charged in the original petition. On the 12th of the same month, the Orphans’ Court passed the following decree: “In the matter of the estate of George Peters, deceased.

The Court having read and considered the petition of James Peters and J. N. Peters his wife, filed the 23d of July last, together with their amended petition filed the 4th instant, as also the answer'and exhibits subsequently filed in said premises, orders and decrees this 12th day of August 1862, that Benjamin O. Barroll tire administrator of said George Peters, deceased, personally appear before this Court on the 19th day of the present month, and return another and final account of his administration of the estate of the said deceased, without fail.” ..From which order and decree this appeal is taken. This is the second appeal taken to this Court, involving the final settlement of the estate of George Peters. The first was upon appeal of Eeiman and Peters, executors of George Peters, from a decree passed on petition of the present appellees, requiring them to make a final settlement. In the opinion of this Court, passed on the former appeal, 2d Md. Rep., 108 to 111, will be found the law as to the duration of the powers of the executors.