Opinion ID: 1958412
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the chancellor err in failing to sustain the appellant's affirmative defense based upon the statute of limitations?

Text: Mrs. McKellar died March 31, 1979, and appellee filed her claim for probate on June 14, 1979. Mississippi Code Annotated section 91-7-153 (1972) provides: The presentation of a claim, and having it probated and registered as required by law, shall stop the running of the general statute of limitations as to such claim, whether the estate be solvent or insolvent. The statute of limitations begins to run when a cause of action accrues. Mississippi Code Annotated section 15-1-29 (Supp. 1980) sets out the following: Except as otherwise provided in the Uniform Commercial Code, actions on an open account or account stated not acknowledged in writing, signed by the debtor, and on any unwritten contract, express or implied, shall be commenced within three (3) years next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after, except that an action based on an unwritten contract of employment shall be commenced within one (1) year next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after. In the present case, the appellee's cause of action for breach of the oral contract did not arise until the decedent died, the claim was registered within the three-year period and was not barred by the statute of limitations. Ellis v. Berry, 145 Miss. 652, 110 So. 211 (1930); also see Page on Wills, § 10.38 at page 519 (1960).