The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-03-31
Supreme Court Of Louisiana.
Condensed Deoisions-Nrw oRIr.s. March %

0o""onseo Oecislons-NEw ORLEANS March 26. 1SE
Where estate vacant and curator had been az
pointed and subsequently the heirs who were domici
lated abroad, and were with perhaps one exception til
subjects oil foreign country. applied by their attorney
In fact to be put into possession of their sue
cesson held, that the curator properly decreed
render an account, and to retain in his hands the amour
of the tax due the State under the act of March &
1872 before the heirs could be into possession an
that the other creditors had right to intervene for tn
protection of their rights before the final decree homoo
eating the curator's account. by exacting the secur
which the law gives them.
SUCCESSION OF ALEXANDER GEORGE: HEIR,
OF ALEXANDER GEORGE Us. A. PENN, CURATOR
NO. l276. Appeal from the Eighth judicial Dis
trsct Court, Parish Of st. Iammany. I. .SLIDELL
D.. FER curadm The estate of the deceased being
vacant, curator was appointed Subsequently
the heirs who are not domiciliated in this State
and who, with one exception, perhaps, are subjects
OF foreign country, applied by their attorneys in
Iact, 10 De put into possession of the estate. The
Court rendered decree recognizing them as heirs
and ordering the curator TO render his account con-
tradIctory with said heirs, and that after paymen,
OF all the debts and legal charges established against
SAID succession. he pay over and deliver to said
heirs, In equal portions, the balance of the funds
and property belonging to the succession. Soon
afterwards, the curator filed his account, stating
the names of the several creditors whose debts had
been acknowledged. Among them, the State OF
Louisiana is noticed as a creditor, in an amount
unasceraned for the tax SUGGESTIONS established
by the act of 1912. From this decree the heirs
have appealed. They contend that no authority is
conferred on curator to claim complete admins
ration before surrendering possession to the heirs
and that he cannot interfere in behalf of the credi-
tors, and claim security from the heirs. They cite
In support OF this position the Code, art 1180, 1882
C. p 1000, 1907. The case of Fisk S succession.
3 Annual, mot yet reported and Graves us. -,
Annual, mot yet reported act of 1923, p. 1856
by the 4th section Of the act of March &c, 1912,
1t was enacted: That each and every person not
domlciated in this State, and not being citizen
OF any State or Territory in the Union, who shall
be entitled, whether as heir, legatee or donee to
the whole or any part of the succession of person
deceased. whether such person shall have died in
this State or elsewhere, shall pay tax of ten per
cent. on all sums, on the value of all property
which he may actually receive from said success
sion, or so much thereof as is situated in this State
after deducting debts due by said succession when
the said inheritance, donation legacy consists of
specific property, and the same has not been Sold
the apprasement thereof in the inventory shall be
considered as the value thereof Every executor,
CURATOR tutor or administrator, having the charge
IN whole or in part to person residing out of this
State, and not being citizen of any other State or
Territory, shall be bound to retain in his hands the
amount of the tax imposed by this act, and to pay
over the same to the State Treasurer, if the sue
cession be opened in the parish of Orleans or JEFF
in any other parish in default whereof every such
executor, curator, tutor or administrator and his
securities shall be liable for the amount thereof
1t is obvious that all the provisions of our code
and statutes, relating to SUGGESTIONS, must be so
construed, if possible, as to give them all effect.
While it is our duty to enforce the rights of the
heirs, it is equally SO to protect the curator from
personal loss in the administration of his trust and
the public treasury from the risk of an abstraction
of the portion of the fund to which it is entitled.
Ii is evident, then, that much of the decree as
directs the previous rendition of an account was
correct. The curator had a right, as against the
heirs, to the recognition of all lawful credits in his
favor for his commissions, his disbursements in the
administration of his trust, and any payments of
debts lawfully due by the deceased To this end
the exhibition and homologation of an account was
He had also a right to insist upon the exhibition
and homologation of statement of the debts due
by the succession, for the purpose of ascertaning
the amount falling to the State under the act Of
1912, which amount thus ascertained by him was
to be withheld from the heirs, and paid over by
him to the State under penalty of his personal
The heirs might perhaps have
removed this difficulty by rendering ten per cent
according to the inventory, but they did not do So
and evidently it was not their interest to do SO.
On the other hand, the curator was not entitled
TO withhold from the heirs the amounts due to
other creditors who had not chosen to exercise the
The only error, therefore, in this portion of the
decree, is in directing the curator to retain what
may be due to creditors other than the State.
The attorney appointed to represent the absent
heirs suggests that there is in the decree, in
omittng to include Margaret George, sister of
the deceased, as one of the heirs, in giving the
mother of the deceased only an equal share with
the mother and sisters, instead of onefourth of the
succession and in treating the husbands of two of
the sisters heirs. The decree is clearly errone-
Gus in this respect.
1t is therefore decreed that the Judgment of the
court below be reversed; and it is further decreed
that Ann George, the mother of Alexander George,
the deceased, Connolly George, the brother of the
said deceased, Rose Ann George, wife of John
Stein, Mary Ann George, wife of Thomas Coren,
Nancy George, wife of James Gilmore, Margaret
George, wife of William Miller, the said Rose
Ann, Mary Ann, Nancy and Margaret, being sis
ters of the deceased, be recognized as the legal
heirs of the said deceased, and be entitled
10 share in and receive the succession of said
deceased, after the proceedings hereby directed
in the proportion Of one-fourth to the said Ann
George, the mother, and one-fflh of three
four,hs 10 each of them, said Connolly, Rose Ann,
Mary Ann, Nancy and Margaret; that the account
rendered by said curator be acted upon contradic-
oriy with said heirs, and after due notice, con-
formally to law; and that after the payment ofthe
awful charges incurred in the administration of
said estate the reservation of the amount coming
10 the State and the allowance TO said curator Of
al lawful credits the residue of said succession be
delivered to, and distributed among said heirs i'm
he proportion above adjudged, saving the credi
ors, of said deceased their right TO intervene for
he protection of their rights before the final decree
If homoogation of said account; the costs of this
appeal to be paid by the estate. Sigur, Bonford
and Halsey, for the heirs appellants; Whitaker
Tor the curator, appellee.
The testimony of witness. received after objection, the
6t trial of case and who afterwards died. is. 1.-THE
second trial. when offered in evidence by the party
the former occasion liable to all the objections
which might be taken if the witness personally
present.
UNION BANK OF LOUISIANA Us. JESSE r. JONES' |
No. 1863. Appeal from the Eighth Judicial Dis
riot Court, Parish Of ST. Idmmdny. :. .SLIDELL,
The principal matter decided in this case was
question concerning the reception of evidence |
Zones was the accommodation endorser of the promis-
ory note on which the suit was brought. Minter !
vas the drawer, and had been offered witness |
~ the defendant, on previous trial, since which
,e has died. Defendant offered Mntsr's testimony,
aiken on that trial. to sustain bis defence Plaintiff
objected to its reception upon the ground that it was
given by person having, at the time he gave it, an
interest in the event of the suit against the plaintiff