Dulin v. Talbot Bank

Adkins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question in this ease is raised by the! administrator of the estate of Samuel Dulin, who died intestate, in regard to the right of the Talbot Bank of Easton, Maryland, to set off two miniatured notes of the intestate and another joint maker to the bank, aggregating $3,798.75, against a deposit of the said intestate in the savings department of the bank of $2,095.32. The petition filed by the administrator alleges the existence of the notes and of the deposit, and that the petitioner had previously requested the court to pass an order authorizing the payment of said notes, so as to save the estate the unearned interest thereon and also the entry of judgments thereon at the proper time against the other maker, which order the court refused to grant; that before said notes matured the appraisers appointed by the court to appraise the personal estate of the decedent returned in their inventory, as a deposit in said bank to the credit of the decedent, the sum of only $296.57, the difference between the amount of the deposit and the aggregate amount of said notes; that petitioner filed in said court a petition reciting these facts and praying the court to pass an order notifying said appraisers to be and appear in said court on a day to be named, and, if then it should be found that the allegations in said petition were true, a further order be passed authorizing the correction by said appraisers of the inventory; that the court refused to pass either of said orders and instructed the register of wills to mark said petition “refused”; that said bank, after the death of the decedent and after the inventory and appraisement were filed in the estate, deducted from the aforesaid ²⁹⁶ savings account the said notes, together with interest said to he due thereon, without first exhibiting, filing, or probating said notes, and without being authorized by the administrator so to do. The prayer of the petition is: (1) That the court direct plenary proceedings by bill or petition, to be answered under oath as provided in article 93, section 263, of the Code; (2) that on proof of the facts alleged the appraisers be authorized and directed to correct or amend the inventory so as to show the amount of money on deposit to the credit of the decedent in said bank; (3) that subpoena be directed to said bank to' answer under oath the allegations contained in the petition; (4) that the bank be required to probate any and all claims it might have against the decedent; (5) for general relief.

The bank was summoned, and filed the following answer: (1) That the allegations in the petition do not present a proper case for the exercise by the court of its plenary jurisdiction; (2) that the issue raised in the petition, and the object sought to be attained,