Wood v. Karns

FILES, P. J. This is an attempted appeal from an order of the superior court made October 5, 1967, insofar as it denied a petition for a decree of distribution. The notice of appeal also refers to those portions of the same order which deny without prejudice the administrator’s application for payment of attorney fees and commissions and for a discharge of the administrator and exoneration of his bond. The latter matters are purely incidental to the decision denying distribution and require no separate discussion. The record also contains a notice of appeal from orders made April 29, 1966, and May 17, 1966, which denied a motion to dismiss and stay proceedings to determine heirship. That appeal has apparently been abandoned, as it is not discussed in the briefs.

Maud Julia Keuthan, a resident of Los Angeles County, died intestate on April 19, 1965.

Bill Earl Poff, claiming to be a nephew of the decedent, petitioned for the issuance of letters of administration to his nominee, Willard M. Wood. Harry H. Blake petitioned for letters, claiming to be a first cousin of the decedent. The public administrator also petitioned for letters, alleging that Poff was not a relative of the decedent and that there were no known heirs. There was a hearing upon these three petitions, after which, on October 13, 1965, the court made an order appointing Wood as administrator and adjudging “That Bill Earl Poff is the child of William Andrew Poff. the brother of the decedent, and said Bill Earl Poff is the nephew, next of kin and sole heir of Maud Julia Keuthan, deceased.”

Both Blake and the public administrator appealed from that order, which was affirmed in an unpublished opinion of the Court of Appeal filed February 7,1967.

On March 15, 1966, respondents Angeles R. Karns, Mrs. W. C. Leak, Frank Mendell and Dan Mendell, Jr. (nonresidents of California) filed a petition to determine heirship (Prob. Code, § 1080), alleging that they were first cousins of the decedent and her heirs. On April 8. 1966, Blake filed his statement of claim of interest in the estate.

On April 29, 1966, a motion to dismiss the petition to determine heirship was denied.

On August 31, 1967, the administrator filed a second and final account, a petition for payment of the balance of fees, for a decree of distribution and the discharge of the administrator and his surety. On October 5, 1967, the court approved the account as an account current, but the petition for the balance of fees was denied without prejudice, distribution was [179]