Choff v. Svendsen

BROWN (R. M.), J. Appellant, the 19-year-old married daughter of the deceased, filed her petition for letters of administration of her mother’s estate. The husband of the deceased failed to apply for letters and did not contest the proposed appointment of appellant (Prob. Code, § 427). The trial court found that while appellant was, by education, training and otherwise, qualified to act as administratrix, she was disqualified because she had not reached the age of majority.

The question before us is whether or not a person lawfully married, over the age of 18 years and under the age of 21 years, is disqualified to act as administrator of an estate because such person is under 21 years of age.

Probate Code section 401 provides, “No person is competent to serve as an executor or executrix who is under the age of [388]majority, .... Marriage does not disqualify a woman from serving as executrix.”

Probate Code section 420 sets forth the same qualifications for administrators and administratrices.

Civil Code section 25 defines a minor as follows: “. . . all persons under 21 years of age; . . . provided further, that any person who has reached the age of 18 years and thereafter contracts a lawful marriage,... shall.. .be of the age of majority and be deemed an adult person for the purpose of entering into any engagement or transaction respecting property or his estate, or for the purpose of entering into any contract, or for the purpose of maintaining or defending an action affecting his marital status, including . . . determination of property rights, the same as if he were 21 years of age.” (Italics ours.)

Minors are also defined specifically as those persons under 21 years of age in Civil Code section 1155 subdivision (a) under the Gifts of Securities to Minors Act, and in Welfare and Institutions Code section 7050 with reference to “psychopathic delinquents.” (See Smith v. Superior Court, 187 Cal.App.2d 609 [10 Cal.Eptr. 1].)

The construction of Civil Code section 25 requires that the statute of limitations prevails against a married woman between the ages of 18 and 21 years, that she has an adult status and that she cannot have a guardian; that if there is such a guardian, such guardianship terminates upon her lawful marriage (Prob. Code, § 1590). (See Caraway v. Burns, 143 Cal.App.2d 327 [299 P.2d 689]; Guardianship of Jacobson, 30 Cal.2d 312 [182 P.2d 537].)