Corcoran v. Bell

Citations

• 36 Wash. 217
• 78 P. 945
• 1904 Wash. LEXIS 546

Syllabus

<p>Executors and Administrators — Orders Directing the Payment oe Administrator’s and Attorney’s Fee — Validity—Notice to Distributees. Orders made in tbe matter of an estate directing the payment of sums allowed to the administrator and his attorney for fees and services, are void when made without notice or any opportunity to the distributees to be heard, and the administrator will be required to return to the estate any moneys paid out under such ex parte orders.</p> <p>Same — Attorney eoe Administrator — Relation to the Estate. An attorney employed hy an administrator sustains no relation to the estate, and allowances for attorney’s fees are not made to the attorney, but to the administrator, as necessary expenditures; hence, where the administrator paid money to an attorney under a void order of the court, the administrator and not the attorney will be required to return it, the adjustment of the attorney’s fee being a matter of agreement with the administrator.</p> <p>Certiorari — Review of Orders Directing Payment of Allowances to Administrator — Appealable Orders — Adequacy of Remedy by Appeal. Certiorari will lie to review ex parte orders made in the matter of an estate directing the payment of specified sums to the administrator and his attorney, and future allowances, where the amount of the supersedeas hond on appeal is indefinite, and the lower court has refused to fix any amount therefor, and the fruits of the appeal would he unprotected during the resort to the appellate court for a supersedeas, since the remedy by appeal is neither speedy nor adequate, especially where the sums were paid out of rentals of the real estate, which under the statute descends directly to the heirs.</p> <p>Executors and Administrators — Disputing Claim of Heir-ship — Certiorari—Parties in Interest — Descent and Distribution. Resistance to the claim of heirship does not affect the right of the alleged heirs to notice and a hearing, where the administrator seeks to pay out f