The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-07-10
EXPENSIVE roR HEIRS.


Considerable.
II has doubtless occurred to every one to
make will. Even though his or her
worldly possessions may be but trihing,
there Ia sufficient amount OF sentiment ut
tached to them TO occasion a desire for
their proper distribution after death.
This is especially true as regards personal
effects. How many OF us possess heirlooms
| In the shape of lockets, trinkets, rings and
ffboxes, whose only value is that they
| have been bequeathed to us by some old
aunt or uncle long since deadf Very prob
| ably Sley have devised their houses stocks
and bonds to some favorite niece or nephew,
but they are too thoughtful Of our feelings
to leave us entirely out In their wills. So
we are "remembcred" by the gift of a tri.
fling bauble, which sentiment demands OF
us to regard as extremely precious.
Yet these good old people are generally
ignorant Of the expense to which the trans.
fer of such petty requests will subject their
estate II the benehcisries happen to be
minors For in that case 1t was the duty
of the surrogate-in this state at least-to
appoint special guardians TO look after the
interests of the young legatees until a re
counting OF the estate has been made
The remuneration allowed to these per
sons is frequently far in excess of the value
Of the requests. The surrogate has Abso
lutte authority to award special guardian
any sum he may see it, There is wise
law limiting the fees paid to the attorney
of an accounting executor, but none pre-
scribing the fees that a special guardian
may collect.
, Here are few cases in point; Not long
ago an old lady Of this city died and left u
will bequeathing her property to be divided
1s.t. 4 bar ha
e had grandson also whom she remembered
/. by leaving him an old mahogany bureau
/. that was an heirloom In the family, The
boy was minor, and consequently special
guardian was appointed by the surrogate
"a The necessary labor entailcd upon this mar
l. need not have occupied him for 20 minute.
a at the utmost, yet he was allowed $50 FOL
y his services. In view of the fact that tn,
q bureau was valued by the appraiser at onl,
II s., the enormity of the special guardian
a. fee Is apparent.
:, An old gentleman died in Harlem yea
. ago, leaving small amount of property /,
= be divided among a host Of nieces and neph
1t ews, some OF whom had attained their ma
l. jority, while others were minors For thes
10 latter three different guardians were ar
D. pointed. The old gentleman's estate con
IN sisted largely of personal effects and wa
worth hU Tue 1nOSJ Si,OOb. ne SpeCld
- guardians were awarded $50, which wa
u equivalent to a tax of 10 per cent upon tn
IL estate.
In one Of the northern counties of tn
state an old woman died recently, leavin
I'd among other requests n brass locket col
4 tanning n lock OF her hair to grandnieC
y who was still in swaddling clothes. II
trinket was not worth 30 cents, yet accort
40 ing to the law special guardian had to
IT. appointed to look after the infants int
OF ests. lie was allowed $25 for his service
to and the old woman's estate had to suif,
st. to that extent OF course the special guar
he ian in this case was paid for performing
la farcical duty but the surrogate was suppor
- ed by the law in awarding him the none
and the executors had to pay 1t.
% In each Of these cases the money paid Of
oy to special guardians might have been SAVE
at to the estate il the small requests to mino
is had been excluded from the will. Where
re- person desires to give a token of remel
brancc 10 n minor, it is always the best pc
icy to give it personally while living rat
=, er than to bequeath it in will after deaf
% The fees of special guardians are part
res the patronage controlled by surrogates al
it is only natural that they should II
in them to increase their own prestige. Tn
an they should invariably make these fe
he commensurate with the amount of wo
done by their agents, or even commens
rate with the value of the requests the
-. men are appointed to protect, is out of t
ia' question. This should be the case, but u
iu- fortunately it is not.-New York News.