Opinion ID: 1786407
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the trial court erred in accepting the administratrix' purported accounting for the years 1961-1973.

Text: It was only after a petition to cite the administratrix to show cause why she should not be removed that she condescended to file an accounting some fifteen months after the remand in the first appeal. In spite of the fact that she testified at the 1972 hearing that she had all receipts for the past ten years and all the books and records, she listed only the net income without any attempt to state the extent and amount of expenditures for which she claimed credit and without attaching any vouchers, receipts or any documentary evidence of any kind, satisfying herself that whatever might be shown to be due by her should be offset by compensation due her. In spite of the probate judge's obvious dissatisfaction with appellee's actions, expressed by his questioning the failure of the accounting to cover the period up to the date of its filing, and by his saying that the accounting was otherwise incomplete, that the widow's attempt to offset the value of her services against the rents, without showing the amount due her, was speculative, that it looked as if she should be removed so someone could make an accounting that a judge could make heads or tails of, that the whole thing was a confused, conglomerated mixup and that no one could tell to what she or the other parties were entitled, and, after hearing Mrs. Price's testimony, that the accounting was not sufficient and that it looked as if she should have to show gross income and expenses, he somehow was eventually sufficiently satisfied by this odd approach to approve the accounting. Appellee puts great store upon her offer in the trial court of two file folders containing copies of paid bills and reciepts. This offer was not made until after the hearing on the accounting had been concluded, when neither appellants nor their attorney had any opportunity to examine them. She also accords great significance to the fact that she had previously furnished appellants' counsel with copies of her personal income tax returns and that they were made a part of her accounting at the hearing. Even so, she did not abstract these returns after appellants had failed to do so. Disregarding this, they do not comply with Ark.Stat.Ann. § 62-2804 in many respects. There are no vouchers. They are not in any way referred to in her Accounting of Personal Representative except to reflect the income she had received from the trailer home park and apartments. Examination of those returns discloses that a deduction for depreciation of the improvements on this property and on items of personal property that she claimed and such items as Utilities are shown in a lump sum. On the first appeal, we pointed out the deficiency in the purported accounting and the requirements to be met. We have no hesitation in holding that the present accounting is also deficient in many of the same respects. Mrs. Price has obviously failed to recognize that, as administratrix, she has duties and responsibilities to the heirs of Carrol Price as a fiduciary. The order approving the accounting must be set aside.