Estate of King

206 Cal.App.2d 688 (1962) Estate of EDWARD F. KING, Deceased. UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK OF SAN DIEGO, as Administrator, etc., Petitioner and Respondent,

v.

BALDO V. KRISTOVICH, as Public Administrator, Petitioner and Appellant.

Civ. No. 26172. California Court of Appeals. Second Dist., Div. One.

Aug. 13, 1962. Harold W. Kennedy, County Counsel, Henry W. Gardett and Jerome A. Johnson, Deputy County Counsel, for Petitioner and Appellant.

Garber & Garber and Wilbur D. Garber for Petitioner and Respondent.

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal by the public administrator "from so much of the Judgment ... that appoints the United States National Bank of San Diego as administrator with will annexed of said estate, issues letters of administration with will annexed to the same and denies the petition of Baldo M. Kristovich, Public Administrator, for letters of administration with will annexed." [689]

A brief resume of the relevant facts is as follows: decedent Edward F. King died testate a resident of Los Angeles County, leaving an estate consisting of real and personal property. His will, which did not name an executor, devised and bequeathed the entire estate to his wife with the provision that if she should not survive him the estate would pass to his half-brother, Theodore Franklin King, a resident of Tennessee. Decedent's wife predeceased him. His nonresident half-brother (hereinafter referred to as "heir") is the sole beneficiary under the will.

On April 28, 1961, respondent filed its petition for probate of the will and for letters of administration with will annexed, together with a nomination by the heir asking that respondent be appointed as said administrator. This petition, accompanied by the nomination, was set for hearing on May 26, 1961, in the superior court.

On May 12, 1961, appellant filed a second petition for letters of administration with will annexed, asserting that respondent was the nominee of a nonresident heir at law and legatee and that consequently the appellant public administrator had a prior right to letters of administration with will annexed. This petition was likewise set for hearing on May 26, 1961.