Eyrich v. Capital State Bank

Citations

• 67 Miss. 60

Syllabus

<p>1. Estate of Decedent : Claim against. Distribution. Code 1880, § 2076.</p> <p>Tliis section, which provides for distribution after twelve months from the grant of letters testamentary, refers to distribution to heirs and legatees, and not to the right of the executor to pay, or of a creditor to sue for a debt due by the testator.</p> <p>2. Same. Stipulation for attorneys’ fees. Suit against administrator within twelve months.</p> <p>In a suit against an administrator upon a note of his intestate which provides for the payment, in addition to interest, of a reasonable attorney’s-fee, if suit should be necessary to collect it, he cannot defend against the claim for such fee merely upon the ground that the suit was brought within the twelve months allowed after grant of letters before distribution.</p> <p>3. Chancery Court. Jurisdiction. Quantum of attorney’s fee.</p> <p>Where suit on such a note is in the chancery court, that court has full jurisdiction to fix the quantum of the fee and include it in the decree.</p> <p>4. Set-off. Mutuality of demands. When joint demand may be set of.</p> <p>A demand in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff and another jointly and severally bound may be set off against the plaintiff suing alone. Moody v. Willis, 41 Miss. 347.</p> <p>5. Set-off. Mutuality: rule, when not applied in chancery court. Administration of estates.</p> <p>Since the statutory jurisdiction of the chancery court over suits on purely legal demands against estates of decedents is merely incidental to the' administration, a complainant in such a suit cannot by joining as a defendant a party jointly liable with the intestate, preclude the administrator from pleading as a set-off a debt due by complainant to the intestate. The rule requiring mutuality in cases of set-off will not be applied, under such circumstances.</p> <p>6. Set-off. Rules applicable to banks.</p> <p>The rules of law as to the right of set-off between the bank and its depositors are not d