Garrett v. Kerney

Citations

• 68 A. 1051
• 107 Md. 501
• 1908 Md. LEXIS 33

Syllabus

<p>Executors and Administrators — Distribution Under Direction of Orphans' Court After Notice — ■Administrator Not Liable to Claimant After Distribution Under Stick Direction — Depositions.</p> <p>Upon the death of a man intestate in 1895, his estate was claimed by a woman who was taken to be his widow and by two persons who were alleged to be his children, but the fact of their being his children was denied by some; and it was also found that the deceased had left two sisters and a nephew and niece. The administrator of the estate obtained from the Orphans’ Court an order appointing a future day for a meeting in the Court of the persons entitled to shares of the said estate, to the end that distribution might then and there be made under the Court’s direction. Publication of the order was made as therein directed. This order was passed in pursuance of Code, Art. 93, sec. 142, which provides that any administrator or executor shall be entitled to appoint a meeting of persons entitled to distributive shares, etc., and distribution may be then and there made under the Court’s direction and control, and that distribution made under the direction of the Court shall protect and indemnify the administrator or executor acting in obedience to it. After the day fixed by the order for the meeting, an agreement was made by the administrator and by the attorneys of all of said parties claiming the estate, by which it was stipulated that distribution should be made among them in certain designated proportions. The object of this agreement was to avoid litigation on the question as to whether the two alleged children were entitled to the remainder after deducting the share of the widow, or whether the same went to the collateral kindred of the deceased. The agreement expressly provided that it should be subject to the approval of the. Orphans’ Court. An account was stated in accordance with this agreement and was ratified by the Court, but no formal order was passed directing dis