Case Name: Succession of Jean Longuefosse
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1882-04
Citations: 34 La. 583
Docket Number: No. 8339
Parties: Succession of Jean Longuefosse.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Annual Reports
Volume: 34
Pages: 583–584

Head Matter:
No. 8339.
Succession of Jean Longuefosse.
The mere fact of temporary absence from tbe State of the surviving wife or heirs of the deceased, gives the Public Administrator no right to administer his succession.
They were in the present case seasonably represented.
APPEAL from the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Lanar us, J., in place of Houston, J., absent.
Albert Voorhies, for Heirs, Appellees :
1. The Public Administrator, under Acts of 1870, No. 87, and of 1877, No. 74, can be appointed administrator of a succession only in specified contingencies.
2. He cannot be appointed wben tbe widow in community is represented by an agent and also by counsel of record.
3. A temporary absence of the widow in community on a visit, does not justify his appointment.
4. The tutor of the minor heir of the deceased as such, administers; and, if an administrator be needed, then this tutor, and not tbe Public Administrator, is entitled to the appointment. Succession Dietrich, 32 A. 128.
5. There are no debts iu this succession; the minor heir, represented by bis tutor, does not need the services of the Public Administrator.
Breaux & Hall, for Public Administrator, Appellant:
The Public Administrator is chai god with the duty and, therefore, entitled to the administration of all espites here the widow and heir are absent, and not represented in the State; it makes no distinction between those permanently absent and others Acts 1870, Sec. 3, p. 130; Acts 1877, p. 111.
The action of the Court must be governed by the facts ex:sting atthe'time for the necessity of the appointment and at the time of the appointment; and subsequent events cannot affect the propriety of that action. Succession of Bronson, 11 A. 25; Succession of Nicholson, 5 A. 359.
Both the widow and heir are admitted to have been absent in Europe from the death until after the judgment complained of; and the record shows that the absence was, as late as August, declared to be indefinite, and that the parties were not represented in the State.

Opinion:
Tbe opinion of tbe Court was delivered by
Todd, J.
P. S. Wiltz, Public Administrator for the Parish of Orleans, appeals from a judgment rejecting his application to be appointed administrator of tbe succession of Jean Longuefosse.
Longuefosse died in tlie City of New Orleans, whei'e, at tlie time of Iiis death, he had his domicil. He left a widow and minor child, who were then temporarily absent on a visit to their relatives in France. Immediately after his death, tlie maternal uncle of the minor, caused an inventory to be made of tbe succession, and asked that the surviving widow of the deceased be confirmed as natural tutrix, and an under tutor be appointed.
The Public Administrator then made his application to be appointed administrator of the succession. This was opposed, first by Pierre Puissegur, the uncle of the minor mentioned, and subsequently by the widow of the deceased, who prayed for her confirmation as natural tutrix. She was still absent when her opposition was filed, but she alleged her residence in New Orleans, and that her absence therefrom was but temporary, and that there were no debts owing by the succession. She subsequently returned to the City with her minor child, but died after the judgment was rendered sustaining her opposition and confirming her as natural tutrix. After her death Puissegur was appointed tutor to the minor, and has appeared in this Court and asked that the judgment of the lower court he affirmed.
There is no error in that judgment.
Longuefosse, at the time of his death, as stated, had his domicil in the City of New Orleans. This was, therefore, the domicil of his widow and minor child. Their temporary absence did not deprive them of any legal rights as relates to the succession of the deceased, and conferred no right on the Public Administrator touching the administration of that succession.
They were, constructively, present in the State, and were seasonably represented therein. It is not the mere temporary absence of the surviving wife or heirs of the deceased that gives to the Public Administrator the right to administer his succession. The heir in this case, through his tutor, was entitled to he put in the immediate possession of tbe estate of her father.
Judgment affirmed.