Huston's Estate

Citations

• 167 Pa. 217
• 31 A. 553
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 880

Syllabus

<p>Decedents' estates — Evidence—Book entries.</p> <p>At the audit of an administrator’s account a claim was made to surcharge the accountant for the amount of a debt alleged to be due by a son of decedent to his father which the accountant had failed to collect. The testimony showed that the only evidence of the debt was contained in a ledger of decedent, the entries in which did not purport to be original entries, as some of them referred to other books not produced, and many of them were not in chronological order. The son disputed the debt, and accountant’s attorney advised that it would be useless to bring suit to recover it. The son was present at the audit, and was silent while the question of his indebtedness to the estate was discussed. Held, (1) that it was error to surcharge the accountant with the amount of the alleged debt; (2) that the presence and silence of the son at the audit did not justify the court in setting off the alleged debt against his share in his father’s estate.</p>