Court Opinion

ID: 9738785
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:02:39.756015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:08.398068
License: Public Domain

Otis M. Smith, J.
(dissenting). The following opinion, which I adopt as my own, was written by former Justice Adams before his departure from this bench.
*346The key question in this case is what constitutes the closing of an estate. Mr. Justice Dethmers and Mr. Justice Black would hold that an estate is not closed until an order has been entered by the probate court specifically closing the estate. Section 56 of chapter 4 of the probate code, CL 1948, § 704.56 (Stat Ann 1959 Cum Supp § 27.3178 [307]), reads as follows:
“After allowance of the final account and entry of order for distribution, the fiduciary shall make distribution, taking receipts for the same, and upon filing such receipts and the receipts showing payment of the inheritance tax or the issuance of an order determining that no tax is payable, he may be discharged and his bondsmen released.
“The court may, upon petition having been filed after the closing of an estate, cause the same to be reopened for the purpose of administering -after discovered assets or to complete the administration of the same in case said estate was closed without being fully administered by the fiduciary or court, or for the correction of typographical errors, omissions, or misdescription of property contained in any order or record in said estate, and for any of these purposes may appoint a successor fiduciary: Provided, however, That the failure o£ a claimant to file a claim against said estate during the original administration thereof shall not be a cause for reopening the same or for the appointment of a successor fiduciary.”
The first paragraph of the statute, when taken in conjunction with the second paragraph which provides for a reopening to correct errors, would appear to be a full and complete description of the steps necessary to close an estate. Once the fiduciary has been properly discharged, and his letters and bond canceled, an estate has been closed. "While a recital or an order of the court to that effect may be desirable for the sake of clarity, none is required by *347the code, nor would such a recital or order add anything to the facts set forth in the code which constitute a closing.
My views with regard to statutes of limitation were set forth in In re Cook Estate, 366 Mich 323, and need not be restated here.
I would remand for entry of an order granting the motion to dismiss.
Caer, C. J., did not sit.
O’Hara, J., took no part in the decision of this case.