The St. Johns herald., 1893-12-28
Articles or sman Value That Neeessitate the Appointment of a Guardian and an Outlay of slang rimez the
 Worth of the Ar-ie'e.

worth of the Arsie'e.
 It has doubles occurred to everyone to make a will Even though his or her worldly possessloas may De but tri1ing, there is sufficient amount of sentiment attached to them to occasion a desire for their proper distribution after death. says the New York News
 This is especially true as regards personal effects How many of us possess heirI0Gms in the shape of lock cts. triukets. rings and suuE-boxes, whose only value is that they been bequeathed Q us by some old aunt or uncle long since dead Very probably they 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 remembered by the gift of a trihing ba1ble, which sentiment demands of us to regard as extremely 5Sacious- Yet these good old people are generally ignorant of the expense to which the transfer of such petty bequests will subject their estate if the benefciaries happen to be minors For in that case it was the duty of the surrOgate-in New York state at least to appoint especial guardians to look after the interests of the young legatees until a recounting of the estate had been made. The re- numeratiOn allowed to these persons is frequently far in excess of the value of the bequests. The surrogate has ab- sOlute authority to award a special guardian any sum he may see fit There is a wise law limiting the fees paid to the attorney of an accountant execu- tor, but none describing the fees that a special guardian may collect.
 Here are a few cases in point. Not long ago an old lady of New YOrl, city died and left a will bequeathing her property to be divided equally between her son and daughter. She had a grandson also whom she remembered by leaving him an old mahogany bureau that was an heirloom in the family The boy was a minor and con sequently a special guardian was ap- pointed by the sur rOgate. The neecs- sary labor entailed upon this man need not have occupied him for twenty min utes at the utmost. yet he was allowed fifty dollars for his services In view of the fact that the bureau was valued by the appraiser at only five dollars, the enOrmity of the special guardians fee is apparent. An old gentleman died in Harlem a year ago. leaving small amount of property Co be divided among host of nieces and nephevs- some of whom had attained their majority. while others were minors For these latter three different guarli- ans were appointed. Ihe old gentle mans estatc conaisted of personal ef- fccts and gsas worth a, Che mot fifteen hundred dollar. The special guardians were awarded one hundred and fifty dollars. which was equivalent tO tax uf ten per cent upon thc cstatc.
 In one Of the northern counties of New York state an old woman died re- gently. leaving. among other bequests. a brass loclget containing lock of her hair to a rrandniccc. who is still in swaddliug clothes. The trinxet was not worth fifty cents, yet, according to the law. a special guardian had Go bc appointed Co look after the infants interests. Ire was allowed twenty-five dollars for his services, and the old vvoman's estate had Co suffer t0 that extent Of course the special guardian in this case was paid for performing farcical duty. but the surrogate was supported by the law in awarding him the money. and the executors had to pay it.
 Ina each of these cases the money paid out Co special guardians might have been saved to the estate if the small bequests Go minors had been eX- cluded from the will Where a person desires Co give token of remembrance to a minor it is always the best policy 10 give it personally while living, rather than to bequeath it in a will after death. The fees of special guardians are part of the patronage controlled by surrogates, and it is only natural that they should use them to increase their prestige. That they should invariably make these fees commensurate with the amount of work done by their agents, or even commensurate with the value of the boquests these men are appointed to protect. is out of the question. This should be the case, but unfortunately it is not.
 At Washington Reception.