Stephen Smith's Estate

Citations

• 179 Pa. 208
• 36 A. 223
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 623

Syllabus

<p>Decedent's estate — Executors and administrators — Agreement with executor — Bale of real estate.</p> <p>S., a stranger to an estate of a decedent, became interested in it by purchasing certain of the shares of the decedent’s devisees. In order to hasten the relief of the land from the decedent’s debts which were a charge upon it, he paid some of the debts himself, and subsequently made a partial settlement with the executor. About a month after this settlement S. and the executor entered into an agreement by which it was provided that if S. should become the purchaser of the decedent’s real estate, the accounts assigned to S. by the executor in the previous settlement, “as well as the accounts against said estate heretofore paid by said S., shall be deducted from the amount of purchase money.” S. purchased the real estate at executor’s sale, and the sale was confirmed by the court. Subsequently the executor petitioned the court to set aside the confirmation of sale because S. had not paid the purchase money. It appeared that the executor had intermeddled with the real estate, and collected rents for which he had not accounted. There were also other irregularities in the management of the estate. Apparently the only debt of the estate was one secured by a mortgage on the real estate. S. claimed to be the owner by assignment of one half of the mortgage, and the executor and his brother owners of the other half, but their assignment had not been put on record. S. claimed that the mortgage was paid. Held, (1) that as the executor had mingled all the items of account between himself and S. in the latter’s threefold relation of assignee of the heirs, creditor of the estate and purchaser at the sale, and as S. had become a purchaser on the basis of this agreement, the confirmation of the sale should be allowed to stand, but equity inquired that as a first step, before any payment was demanded from him, it should be shown that there was a balance against him under his a