Estate of Apple

Citations

• 66 Cal. 432
• 6 P. 7
• 1885 Cal. LEXIS 462

Syllabus

<p>Estate of Decedent—Appeal—Presumptions—Jurisdiction.— On an appeal from a decree of distribution, the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over the subject matter of the controversy will be presumed, when all the parties interested are before the court, and the jurisdiction is assumed by them.</p> <p>Id.—Conflict of Laws—Domicile—Distribution.—In the absence of a statute to the contrary, the distribution of a decedent’s personal estate is governed by the law of his actual domicile at the time of his death. But so far as creditors are concerned, each state will deal with the property of a decedent within its jurisdiction according to its own laws. This rule has not been changed in California.</p> <p>Civil Code—Effect and Construction—Common Law.—The provisions of the Civil Code respecting the subjects to which it relates are controlling, and should be liberally construed ; but where the code is silent, the common law governs.</p> <p>Conflict of Laws—Distribution of Non-Resident’s Estate.— Personal property in California of a testator, dying in Europe, at the time of his death domiciled in Nevada, should be distributed according to the law of Nevada.</p> <p>Id.—Demonstrative Legacies — Abatement.—Por purposes of distribution, demonstrative legacies to kindred are not preferred to like legacies to strangers. All stand upon an equality; and if the fund out of which they are payable be insufficient, all must abate proportionally. It is only in eases where such legacies have to be resorted to for payment of debts, that legacies to kindred are preferred.</p>