Turner's Adm'r v. Dillard's Ex'or

Citations

• 82 Va. 536
• 1886 Va. LEXIS 69

Syllabus

<p>1. Equitable Jurisdiction and Relief—Fiduciaries—Laches.—If, from delay to demand settlement, no correct account of administration can be rendered, and any conclusion arrived at, must at best be conjectural, and the transactions are so obscured by time, loss of evidence, and death of parties, as to make justice difficult, the courts will not relieve the plaintiff.</p> <p>2. Idem—Idem—Case at bar.—L. qualified as executor of his father in 1841. Suit for settlement was instituted 37 years afterwards. Both plaintiff and defendant were old and died within a few months. Estate was large. Much money had been paid out to legatees. L. had actually donated to plaintiff a farm worth double her claims. Witnesses were dead, vouchers destroyed by public enemy during civil war, and a correct account had become impossible; whilst the delay to demand settlement sooner, was unexplained—</p> <p>Held :</p> <p>The court will leave the parties where they contentedly rested so long, and dismiss the bill.</p>