or who shall grant letters of administration on the estate of any person, who at his death was not an inhabitant of this state, shall, within ten days after admitting such will to probate, or granting such letters, transmit a certified copy thereof to the secretary of state, to be filed in his office, the expense whereof shall be paid out of the treasury, on the warrant of the comptroller, upon producing the certificate of the secretary of state, of the receipt of such copy.31 ART. 1. their own $60. Every person who shall take into his possession any of the Executors in assets of any testator or intestate, without being thereto duly authoris- wrong. ed as executor, administrator or collector, or without authority from the executor, administrator or collector, shall be liable to account for the full value of such assets, to every person entitled thereto, and shall not be allowed to retain or deduct from such assets, for any debt due to him. 32 TITLE III. OF THE DUTIES OF EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN TAKING AET. 1. Of their duties in taking and returning inventories. ART. 2. Of the duties of executors and administrators, in the payment of debts and legacies. ART. 3. Of the duties of executors and administrators, in rendering an account, and in making distribution to the next of kin. ARTICLE FIRST. Of their Duties in taking and returning Inventories. Sec. 1. Appraisers of property to be appointed; their compensation. 2. Appraisal to be made by them and executor or administrator. 3. Notice of appraisal, how and on whom to be served; its contents. 4. Appraisers to take oath; to be inserted in inventory. 5. Proceedings of appraisers. 6. Assets enumerated, which go to executors. 7. Things which are not assets. 8. Rights of heirs to descendible property, not affected by section six. 9. Certain other articles not assets, to be included in inventory, in certain cases. 10. To whom such articles belong, and with whom to remain. 11. Mortgages, bonds, &c. to be particularly stated in inventory. 12. Money and bank bills received, to be stated; if none, the fact to be mentioned. 13. The appointment of a debtor executor, not to discharge debt. 14. Discharge of any debt in a will, to be deemed a specific bequest. 15. Duplicates of inventory to be made; one to be returned to surrogate. 16. Oath to be taken by executor or administrator, to be endorsed on inventory. 17. On neglect to return inventory, surrogate to issue summons. 18. If inventory not returned, attachment to issue, and executor, &c. to be imprisoned. 19. When letters to be revoked, and new letters to be issued. 20. Effect of such new letters. 21. When bond of former administrator, &c. to be prosecuted; proceedings thereon. TITLE 3 SEC. 23. Inventory may be returned by one executor; those refusing, to forfeit their ap. pointment. 24. New assets discovered, to be appraised and inventoried; inventory to be returned. $1. Upon the application of any executor or administrator, the surrogate who granted letters testamentary or of administration, shall, by writing, appoint two disinterested appraisers, as often as occasion may require, to estimate and appraise the property of a deceased person; and such appraisers shall be entitled to receive a reasonable compensation for their services, to be allowed by the surrogate.33 $2. The executors and administrators of any testator or intestate, within a reasonable time after qualifying, and after giving the notice in the next section required, with the aid of appraisers so appointed by the surrogate, shall make a true and perfect inventory of all the goods, chattels, and credits, of such testator or intestate, and where the same shall be in different and distant places, two or more such inventories, as may be necessary.3 33 3. A notice of such appraisement shall be served, five days previous thereto, on the legatees and next of kin, residing in the county where such property shall be; and it shall also be posted in three of the most public places of the town. In every such notice, the time and place at which such appraisement will be made, shall be specified. $ 4. Before proceeding to the execution of their duty, the appraisers shall take and subscribe an oath, to be inserted in the inventory made by them, before any officer authorised to administer oaths, that they will truly, honestly and impartially appraise the personal property, which shall be exhibited to them, according to the best of their knowledge and ability.34 $5. The appraisers shall, in the presence of such of the next of kin, legatees, or creditors of the testator or intestate as shall attend, proceed to estimate and appraise the property which shall be exhibited to them; and shall set down each article separately, with the value thereof in dollars and cents, distinctly, in figures, opposite to the articles respectively. $6. The following property shall be deemed assets, and shall go to the executors or administrators, to be applied and distributed as part of the personal estate of their testator or intestate, and shall be included in the inventory thereof: 1. Leases for years; lands held by the deceased from year to year; and estates held by him for the life of another person :35 2. The interest which may remain in the deceased at the time of his death, in a term for years, after the expiration of any estate for years therein, granted by him or any other person: (33) 1 R. L. 311, § 1. (34) Ib. § 2. (35) Ib. 365, § 4. 3. The interest in lands devised to an executor for a term of for the payment of debts: years, 4. Things annexed to the freehold, or to any building, for the purpose of trade or manufacture, and not fixed into the wall of a house, so as to be essential to its support: 5. The crops growing on the land of the deceased, at the time of his death: 6. Every kind of produce raised annually by labor and cultivation, excepting grass growing and fruit not gathered: 7. Rent reserved to the deceased, which had accrued at the time of his death:36 8. Debts secured by mortgages, bonds, notes or bills; accounts, money, and bank bills, or other circulating medium, things in action, and stock in any company, whether incorporated or not: 9. Goods, wares, merchandize, utensils, furniture, cattle, provisions, and every other species of personal property and effects, not herein after excepted. $7. Things annexed to the freehold, or to any building, shall not go to the executor, but shall descend with the freehold to the heirs or devisees, except such fixtures, as are mentioned in the fourth subdivision of the last section. ART. 1. What are not assets. heirs. $8. The right of an heir to any property not enumerated in the Rights of preceding sixth section, which by the common law would descend to him, shall not be impaired by the general terms of that section. articles to be $9. Where a man, having a family, shall die, leaving a widow, Certain other or a minor child or children, the following articles shall not be deemed inventoried. assets, but shall be included and stated in the inventory of the estate, without being appraised: 1. All spinning wheels, weaving looms, and stoves, put up, or kept, for use by his family: 2. The family bible, family pictures, and school books used by or in the family of such deceased person; and books, not exceeding in value fifty dollars, which were kept and used as part of the family library, before the decease of such person: 3. All sheep, to the number of ten, with their fleeces, and the yarn and cloth manufactured from the same; one cow; two swine, and the pork of such swine: 4. All necessary wearing apparel, beds, bedsteads, and bedding; necessary cooking utensils; the clothing of the family; the clothes of a widow, and her ornaments proper for her station; one table, six chairs, six knives and forks, six plates, six teacups and saucers, one sugar dish, one milk pot, one teapot and six spoons.37 $10. The said articles shall remain in the possession of the widow, Where to reif there be one, during the time she shall live with, and provide for, (36) 1 R. L. 439, § 18; 443, § 27. (37) Laws of 1824, p. 32. main, &c. TITLE 3 such minor child or children. When she shall cease so to do, she Mortgages, bonds, &c. Money and bank bills. Debts of executors not discharged. Discharge of invalid as to shall be allowed to retain as her own, her wearing apparel, her ornaments and one bed, bedstead and the bedding for the same; and the other articles so exempted, shall then belong to such minor child or children. If there be a widow, and no such minor child, then the said articles shall belong to such widow.38 S 11. The inventory shall contain a particular statement of all bonds, mortgages, notes and other securities for the payment of money, belonging to the deceased, which are known to such executor or administrator; specifying the name of the debtor in each security; the date; the sum originally payable; the endorsements thereon, if any, with their dates; aud the sum which, in the judgment of the appraisers, may be collectible on each security. S 12. The inventory shall also contain an account of all monies, whether in specie or bank bills, or other circulating medium, belonging to the deceased, which shall have come to the hands of the executor or administrator; and if none shall have come to his hands, the fact shall be so stated in such inventory. S 13. The naming of any person executor in a will, shall not operate as a discharge, or bequest, of any just claim, which the testator had against such executor, but such claim shall be included among the credits and effects of the deceased, in the inventory, and such executor shall be liable for the same, as for so much money in his hands, at the time such debt or demand becomes due; and he shall apply and distribute the same in the payment of debts and legacies, and among the next of kin, as part of the personal estate of the deceased. S 14. The discharge or bequest in a will, of any debt or demand debts by will, of the testator, against any executor named in his will, or against any creditors. other person, shall not be valid as against the creditors of the deceas Inventory to be returned, &c. Oath of exetor, &c. ed; but shall be construed only as a specific bequest of such debt or demand; and the amount thereof shall be included in the inventory of the credits and effects of the deceased, and shall, if necessary, be applied in the payment of his debts; and if not necessary for that purpose, shall be paid in the same manner and proportion as other specific legacies. 15. Upon the completion of the inventory, duplicates thereof shall be made and signed by the appraisers; one of which shall be retained by the executor or administrator, and the other shall be returned to the surrogate within three months from the date of such letters, 39 S16. Upon returning such inventory, the executor or administrator shall take and subscribe an oath, before the surrogate; or if such surrogate be absent from the county, or incapable, from sickness or (38) Laws of 1824, p. 32. (39) 1 R. L. 311, § 1; Laws of 1821, p. 46. otherwise, of transacting business, or his office be vacant, then be- ART. 1. fore a judge of the county courts of such county; stating, that such inventory is in all respects just and true, that it contains a true statement of all the personal property of the deceased, which has come to the knowledge of such executor or administrator, and particularly of all money, bank bills, and other circulating medium, belonging to the deceased, and of all just claims of the deceased against such executor or administrator, according to the best of his knowledge. Such oath shall be endorsed upon, or annexed to, the inventory.40 ventory how $17. If any executor or administrator shall neglect or refuse to Return of inreturn such inventory, within the time aforesaid, or within such fur- compelled. ther time, not exceeding four months, as the surrogate shall, for reasonable cause, allow; the surrogate shall issue a summons, requiring such executor or administrator, at a short day, therein to be appointed, to appear before him and return an inventory, according to law, or show cause why an attachment should not be issued against him. of letters. 18. If after personal service of such summons, such executor or administrator shall not, by the day appointed, return such inventory on oath, or obtain further time to return the same, the surrogate shall issue an attachment against him, and commit him to the common jail of the county, there to remain until he shall return such inventory. $ 19. If such summons cannot be served personally, by reason of Revocation such executor or administrator absconding or concealing himself, or, if after being committed to prison, such executor or administrator shall neglect for thirty days, to make and return such inventory, the surrogate may thereupon issue under his seal of office, a revocation of the letters testamentary or letters of administration, before granted to such executor or administrator; reciting therein the cause of such revocation, and shall grant letters of administration of the goods, chattels and effects of the deceased, unadministered, to the person entitled thereto, (other than such executor or administrator,) in the same manner as original letters of administration, or letters testamentary. 320. Such letters of administration or letters testamentary, shall Effect of new supercede all former letters, and shall deprive the former executor or administrator of all power, authority, and control, over the personal estate of the deceased; and shall entitle the person appointed by such letters, to take, demand, and receive the goods and effects of the deceased, wherever the same may be found. letters. of former $21. In every such case of revocation, and whenever directed by Prosecution the surrogate, the bond given by such former executor or administra- bonds. tor shall be prosecuted, and a recovery shall be had thereon to the full extent of any injury sustained by the estate of the deceased, by the acts or omissions of such executor or administrator, and to the full (40) 1 R. L 311, § 1; Laws of 1821, p. 46. |