Estate of Mitchell

12 Cal.App.3d 1169 (1970) 91 Cal. Rptr. 334 Estate of SAM B. MITCHELL, Deceased.

HAZEL STROBEHN, as Executrix, etc., Petitioner and Respondent,

v.

JACK W. CRUMLEY et al., Claimants and Appellants.

Docket No. 35935. Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Five.

November 23, 1970. [1170] COUNSEL

Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps and Marshall L. Foreman, Jr., for Claimants and Appellants.

No appearance for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

AISO, J.

This is an appeal by Jack W. Crumley, Marshall L. Foreman, Jr., and Robert E. McGinnis (hereafter referred to as "appellants") from an order of the probate court denying confirmation of a sale of real property which had been made by the executor to the appellants. The order is appealable under Probate Code section 1240.

A sale of the property after due notice was made at a private sale for $13,000; this sum was $1,000 more than the appraised value of the property. A petition requesting that the sale be confirmed was signed and verified by the executrix. It alleged that "The sale was legally made and fairly conducted. It is to the advantage and benefit of the estate and those interested therein, in order to prevent loss to the estate, that the real property hereafter described be sold." On the same date appellants' bid for $13,000 was filed with the court; the bid promised that the full purchase price would be paid before recording of the deed.

(1) When the confirmation came before the court, however, the attorney for the executrix stated orally that one of the heirs objected to the sale because the price was too low. This objection was made in a conversation with him and the executrix and there is nothing in the record referring to it other than the attorney's statement to the probate court. The court refused to confirm the sale and the prospective purchasers have appealed.