Brown v. Seaman

Citations

• 65 Tex. 628
• 1886 Tex. LEXIS 720

Syllabus

<p>1. Community—Management—Survivor bond—The right of the survivor in community to the absolute management of the common estate, is acquired only in case the statutory bond is filed in the county court of the proper county. Unless this is done the property is open to administration, as in other cases.</p> <p>2. Same—Removal—If the bond filed is not satisfactory, or the court sets it aside, and the survivor fails to file one that is sufficient, he is, in effect, removed from the management of the estate; an order removing him may be rendered, and an administrator appointed.</p> <p>3. Same—Sureties—If the survivor acts under an accepted bond, but, failing to give a new bond when required, is removed from the administration, the administrator appointed to succeed him may sue his sureties on the bond for the value of assets wasted. The bond takes the place of the wasted property, and to that extent the sureties are debtors to the estate.</p> <p>i. Same—Jurisdiction—The court in which the suit should be brought is the one having jurisdiction of a suit for the amount claimed upon the bond, and it is not necessary for the devastavit to be first established in the county court.</p> <p>5. Same—Construction of statutes—The articles of the Revised Statutes providing for the exhibit and the suits which may follow its appearance in court, apply when the survivor is still administering the estate, and a creditor has called him to account for failure to pay his debts.</p> <p>6. Same—District court—The district court can inquire into a devastavit in the case of a survivor in community, as well as in the case of an administrator.</p>