Sargent v. Wallis

Citations

• 67 Tex. 483
• 3 S.W. 721
• 1887 Tex. LEXIS 911

Syllabus

<p>1. Guardians and Wards.—A guardian who, before his appointment and qualification as such, obtains illegal possession of the ward’s property and disposes of it before his appointment and qualification, but who, in his account, charges himself with its value as so much money on hand to represent it, constitutes himself a debtor to the ward’s estate, and the sureties on his bond are responsible for his failure to turn it over to the ward or his successor in the guardianship.</p> <p>H. Same.—By the terms of the statute it is made the duty of a guardian to use due diligence to collect all claims and debts owing to the ward, and to recover possession of all of his property; and whether the guardian by his own wrong, in illegally disposing of the ward’s property before his appointment, constituted himself the ward’s debtor, or whether it was his duty as guardian to regain possession of the specific property, in either event the sureties on his bond would he liable for his default.</p> <p>(Rev. Stat., arts. 2546-2610.)</p> <p>3. Same.—The rule that sureties on a guardian’s bond are not liable for a misappropriation of assets made before they became sureties, has no ap- ' plication to the ease above stated. Whether the guardian’s default consisted in a failure to recover the property illegally disposed of by him, before his appointment, or to account for assets, if he be deemed to have been a debtor, and therefore to hold for his ward a sum of money equal to his indebtedness, the duty violated was continuous in its character.</p> <p>4. Same.—If a guardian by his own wrong constituted himself a debtor to his ward’s estate before his appointment, and by qualifying as such prevented the appointment of another to protect the estate, being unable to sue himself, he would be considered in legal contemplation as having paid the debt to himself, and to continuously hold the money as long as his representative character continues, for the payment of which to the ward the sureties