Estate of Fulton

SHAW, C. J.

In December, 1920, Eva F. Hunt, as administratrix of the estate of Albert J. Fulton, deceased, filed her final account as such administratrix, charging herself with the sum of thirty dollars in money and claiming credit for $631.23 for money paid out on behalf of the estate. Thereupon, the respondents, heirs of the decedent, filed exceptions to the account, claiming, among other things, that the administratrix had received $5,327 belonging to said estate which was not included in said account. Upon due notice, the account was heard and settled by the court. The order settling the account was made on February 1, 1921. It declared that the said sum of money was in the hands of the administratrix and belonged to said estate, and

[490]

charged her therewith. The balance therein charged against her was $5,282.25. On February 11, 1921, the heirs aforesaid who had contested the account filed a petition for distribution of the estate. This petition came on for hearing on March 3, 1921, and thereupon distribution was ordered of the assets of the estate in accordance with the laws of descent. •

The said Eva F. Hunt appeals from the order settling the final account and from the order for distribution.

[1]

The only point presented by the appellant in support of her appeal from the order settling the account is that, in a proceeding for the administration of an estate, the superior court has no jurisdiction to determine that the administratrix has in her hands money of the estate which she had not accounted for and which she claims belongs to herself and not to the estate. We do not find it necessary to discuss this question at any length. Precisely the same question was presented to this court in

Stevens

v.

Superior Court,

155 Cal. 148 [99 Pac. 512], where the same objection was made to the jurisdiction of the court. It was there held that “the probate court must necessarily have the power to incidentally try and determine such an issue between the executor or administrator and the estate in the matter of the settlement of his exhibits and accounts. The amount of money belonging to the estate received by an executor or administrator is one of the matters he is necessarily required to state in his accounts, and the correctness of his accounts in that regard' is one of the matters to be determined by the court as between him and the estate on the settlement thereof.” (See, also,