Estate of Massena

VAN ZANTE, J., pro tem.

This appeal is from an order made by the probate court settling and allowing the amended first report and first account of the administrator in the above-entitled' matter, which amended report and account had been filed on the twenty-first day of September, 1931.

At the time of the hearing the matter of heirship of appellant had not been determined, although a petition therefor was pending.

The report showed that letters of administration issued on the sixteenth day of June, 1930, and that the estate was of the value of $52,481.60. As the amended report of the administrator tends to show the conditions and circumstances that confronted him, we therefore quote the following therefrom:

“Petitioner alleges that the principal asset of the estate consisted of the Massena Hotel, in Bakersfield, California, which included the furniture, fixtures, and appliances

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therein and the good will thereof; that the hotel building was and is such that it could not readily be used, sold or rented for any other purpose than hotel purposes; that the good will of the hotel business was a very substantial part of the assets in connection with the hotel; that deceased had built up the business and good will by many years of careful attention to the same; that within the last two or three years the hotel business in the city of Bakersfield had underwent a severe change resulting from the erection of two fine hotels, and by consequent reduction of rates and a wider distribution of the hotel business relating to hotels such as the Massena Hotel; that there is not now and never has been a possibility of disposing of the Massena Hotel for any other than hotel purposes, and any impairment of the good will or business of said hotel would very materially detract from the value of the property employed in such business; that in the judgment of your administrator it was for the best interest and the highest advantage of the estate that the hotel be kept open and conducted as such during the administration so that the good will of said business would not be impaired and the business might be exhibited to the prospective buyers in a going condition; and that it was necessary to keep said hotel open for the purpose of properly conserving and preserving the assets of the estate. Petitioner alleges that during said time said administrator has been endeavoring to lease, rent or sell said premises in order to pay the existing mortgage thereon. He has been compelled to rent said property and the rooms therein in order to keep intact the value of said hotel as a going hotel. Petitioner alleges that during said time he has advertised in the papers, personally sought agents for the purpose of selling said hotel, but that due to the present existing depression in financial circles, he has been unable to secure a purchaser or secure a tenant or person who is willing to lease said premises, in an amount which would properly provide the proper return on the present investment, and in connection with this, this petitioner has advertised in the papers in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, in Bakersfield and other cities. That from the moneys obtained from the operation of said business he has placed the whole thereof in an administrator’s account as such in the First National Bank in Bakersfield, and all the moneys received from the