Estate of Robinson v. Hill

SHENK, J. —

This is an appeal from an order setting aside an order granting letters of administration. Two notices of appeal and two bills of exception were filed by the administrator. They present the same questions for determination and will be considered as one appeal.

On June 1, 1937, Glen M. Robinson, a grandson of the decedent, William Robinson, filed in the Superior Court in Los Angeles County, a verified petition for letters of administration of the estate of his grandfather. The petition recited that the decedent died on or about the 15th day of December, 1935, in the county of Tippecanoe, State of Indiana; that he was a resident of that state; that he left estate in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, consisting of United States Government bonds of an unknown value believed to be in the possession of Minnie Lee Robinson, a daughter of the decedent and a resident of Los Angeles County; that the heirs of the decedent were D. E. Robinson, a son, aged 57, living in the city of Los Angeles, Minnie Lee Robinson, a daughter, aged 63, living in El Monte, Los Angeles County, and Edward Robinson, aged 65, a son, living in Lafayette, Indiana; and that the decedent left no will. Notice was given in accordance with law and there is no contention that the heirs did not receive actual notice, or that they did not have an opportunity to attend the hearing on the petition. The hearing was held without any objection to the granting of letters as requested, and an order granting the same was entered. No appeal was taken therefrom. On April 14, 1938, Glen M. Robinson qualified and letters of administration were issued to him.

On January 4, 1939, the administrator brought an action in the superior court in Los Angeles County against Minnie Lee Robinson and her daughter, Pauline Mann, and the latter’s husband, Carl L. Mann, to recover possession of United

[536]

States Government bonds of approximately $40,000, or- real estate or other property into which the same had been converted, under a claim that such property belonged to the estate of the decedent.

On March 11, 1939, Minnie Lee Robinson (now Minnie Lee Hill) and the Manns served a notice of motion to set aside the probate proceedings and to vacate the order appointing Glen M. Robinson as administrator on the ground that the court in Los Angeles County had no jurisdiction of the subject matter for the asserted reason that the decedent had no property in said county at the time of his death, and for alleged fraud practiced on the court by Glen M. Robinson. The affidavits of the moving parties stated that the decedent was a resident of Indiana at the time of his death and owned no property in California; that no probate proceedings had been commenced or were pending in the State of Indiana, and that certain criminal proceedings had been instituted in Indiana against Minnie Lee Hill and Pauline Mann concerning the alleged conversion of estate property but that the same had been dismissed;,and that about six months after the death of William Robinson, Minnie Lee Hill and the Manns moved to California. The administrator opposed the granting of the motion. The affidavits of himself and of D. E. Robinson, son of the decedent living in Los Angeles County, averred that at the time of his death William Robinson was the owner of about $30,000 in Liberty Bonds and $9,000 in cash of which Minnie Lee Hill had obtained possession; that Minnie Lee Hill admitted to her brother in California that she had possession of such property and acknowledged that it was the property of the father’s estate; also that she desired to divide the property with D. E. Robinson in equal shares so that Edward Robinson, the brother in Indiana, would receive no part of the estate, but that D. E. Robinson refused to enter into any such plan, agreement or division; that D. E. Robinson received monthly from Minnie Lee Hill one-third of the income from said bonds from the date of the death of the decedent until July, 1937. It was also, averred that Minnie Lee Hill admitted that she had invested a portion of said cash and Liberty Bonds in income-producing real estate, known as Walnut Auto Court, situated in El Monte, California. The motion to set aside the probate proceedings was denied on April 5, 1939, and no appeal was taken from the order denying the same.