embezl'd goods.

COLLECTION AND DISPOSITION OF ASSETS.

Concealed or § 81. If any executor or administrator, or other person interested in any estate, shall state upon oath to any county court that he believes that any person has in possession, or has concealed or embezzled any goods, chattels, moneys or effects, books of account, papers, or any evidences of debt whatever, or titles to lands, belonging to any deceased person, the court shall require such person to appear before it by citation, and may examine him on oath and hear the testimony of such executor or administrator, and other evidence offered by either party, and make such order in the premises as the case may require.

Refusal to an

swer.

Claims belonging to estates.

Proviso.

§ 82. If such person refuses to answer such proper interrogatories as may be propounded to him, or refuses to deliver up such property or effects, or in case the same has been converted, the proceeds or value thereof, upon a requisition being made for that purpose by an order of the said court, such court may commit such person to jail until he shall comply with the order of the court therein.

§ 83. Upon suggestion made by an executor or administrator, to the county court, that any claim, debt or demand whatever belonging to the estate in his hands to be administered, and accruing in the lifetime of the decedent, is desperate on account of the insolvency, or doubtful solvency of the person or persons owing the same, or on account of the debtor having availed himself of the bankrupt law of the United States, or on account of some legal or equitable defense which such person or persons may allege against the same, or for the cause that the smallness of such claim, debt or demand, and the difficulty of finding the debtors, owing to the remoteness of their residence, or such executor's or administrator's ignorance of the same, the said court may order such claim, debt or demand to be compounded or sold, or to be filed in the said court for the benefit of such of the heirs, devisees or creditors of such decedent as will sue for and recover the same, giving the creditors the preference, if they or any of them apply for the same before the final settlement of such estate: Provided, that no order for the sale or compounding of any such debts, claims or demands, or any of them, shall be made until two weeks' public notice shall have been given, to all whom it may concern, of the time and place when the said order will be applied for-which notice shall be given by the administrator or executor, in a newspaper published in the county where such application is to be made, or if no such newspaper is published in such county, then by posting up such notices in not less than three public places in the county, of which one shall be at the office of the clerk of the county court-which notice shall be so posted at least

two weeks previous to the time of said application. The executor or administrator shall report to the said county court, for its approval, the terms upon which he has settled or disposed of any such claim, debt or demand.

sold.

$84. And if such claim is compounded or sold, such When claim is executor or administrator shall be chargeable with the avails of such compounding, and if the same is taken by any of the creditors, heirs or devisees, he or they may maintain an action for the recovery thereof, in the name of such executor or administrator, for the use hereinafter mentioned; and upon recovering the same, or any part thereof, he or they shall be chargeable there with, after deducting his claim or distributive share, with reasonable compensation for colletting the same; and upon such suits the executor or administrator shall not be liable for costs.

der claims com

property.

$85. The county court may order claims, debts and de- Court may or mands-due at so remote a period as to prevent their col- pounded. lection within the time required for the final settlement of estates, and the collection or disposition of which is necessary to the payment of the debts against the estate-to be compounded or sold in the same manner and upon like conditions as though such claims, debts or demands were desperate or doubtful: Provided, that no such claim, debt or demand shall be sold or compounded for less than ten per cent. below the value thereof. § 88. No executor or administrator shall, without the Removal of order of the court, remove any property wherewith he is charged, by virtue of his letters, beyond the limits of this state. And in case any such executor or administrator shall remove such property without such order, the court shall, on notice, forth with revoke his letters and appoint a successor, and cause a suit to be instituted on his bond, against him and his security, for the use of the person interested in the estate; and if it shall appear, upon the trial of such cause, that the executor or administrator has so removed such property, judgment shall be rendered against the offender and his securities for the full value thereof, and such other damages as the parties interested may have sustained by reason thereof.

PARTNERSHIP ESTATE.

$87. In case of the death of one partner, the surviving Death of partner partner or partners shall proceed to make a full, true and complete inventory of the estate of the co-partnership within his knowledge; and shall also make a full, true and complete list of all the liabilities thereof at the time of the death of the deceased partner. He or they shall cause the said estate to be appraised in like manner as the individual property of a deceased person.

Inventory.

Surviving part

sion.

§ 88. He or they shall return, under oath, such inventory, list of liabilities and appraisement, within sixty days after the death of the co-partner, to the county court of the county of which the deceased was a resident or carried on the partnership business at the time of his death; if the deceased shall have been a non-resident, then such return shall be made to the county court granting administration upon the effects of the deceased. Upon neglect or refusal to make such return, he shall, after citation, be liable to attachment.

§ 89. Such surviving partner or partners shall have the ner in posses- right to continue in possession of the effects of the partnership, pay its debts out of the same, and settle its business, but shall proceed thereto without delay, and shall account with the executor or administrator, and pay over such balances as may, from time to time, be payable to him in the right of his testator or intestate. Upon the application of the executor or administrator, the county court may, whenever it may appear necessary, order such surviving partner to render an account to said county court, and in case of neglect or refusal may, after citation, compel the rendition of such account by attachment.

Waste by surviving partner.

§ 90. Upon the committal of waste by the surviving partner or partners, the court may, upon proper application, under oath, setting forth specifically the facts and circumstances relied on, protect the estate of the deceased partner, by citing forthwith the surviving partner or partners to give security for the faithful settlement of the affairs of the co-partnership, and for his accounting for and paying over to the executor or administrator of the deceased whatever shall be found to be due, after paying partnership debts and costs of settlement, within such time as shall be fixed by the court. The giving of such security may be enforced by attachment, or, upon refusal to give such security, the court may appoint a receiver of the partnership property and effects, with like Costs of pro- powers and duties of receivers in courts of chancery-the costs of proceedings under this section to be paid by the executor or administrator, out of the estate of the deceased or surviving partner, or partly by each, as the court may order.

ceedings,

Sale of personal property.

SALE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY.

§ 91. When it is necessary for the proper administration of the estate, the executor or administrator shall, as soon as convenient, after making the inventory and appraisement, sell at public sale all the personal property, goods and chattels of the decedent, when ordered to do so by the county court, (not reserved to the widow, or included in specific legacies and bequests, when the sale of such legacies and bequests is not necessary to pay debts,) upon giving three

weeks' notice of the time and place of such sale, by at least four advertisements, set up in the most public places in the county where the sale is to be made, or by inserting an advertisement in the nearest newspaper published in this state, to the place of such sale, at least four weeks successively, previous thereto. The sale may be upon a credit of not less than six nor more than twelve months time, by taking note with good security of the purchasers at such sale. The sale may be for all cash, or part cash and part on time: Provi ded, that any part or all of such personal property may, where so directed by the court, be sold at private sale.

Estate not to

$92. If any testator directs that his estate shall not be sold, the same shall be preserved in kind, and distributed be sold. accordingly, unless such sale becomes absolutely necessary for the payment of the debts and charges against the estate of such testator.

Property to be

preserved.

§ 93. If the sale of the personal property is not necessary for the payment of debts or legacies, or the proper distribution of the effects of the estate, the court may order that the property be preserved and distributed in kind. 894. If any executor or administrator is of opinion that Disposal of crop it would be of advantage to the estate of the decedent to dispose of the crop growing, and not devised at the time of his decease, the same shall be inventoried, appraised and sold, in like manner as other personal property; but the executor or administrator may, if he believes it would be of more advantage to the estate, cultivate such crop to maturity, and the proceeds of such crop, after deducting all necessary expenses for cultivating, gathering and making sale of the same, shall be assets in his hands, and subject to the payment of debts and legacies, and to distribution as aforesaid.

clerks.

895. In all public sales of such property, the executor Employment or administrator may employ necessary clerks and a crier, who shall be allowed such compensation, not exceeding three dollars per day, as the court may deem reasonable, to be paid by such executor or administrator, and charged to

the estate. All such sales shall be made between the hours Time of sale. of ten o'clock in the forenoon and five o'clock in the afternoon of each day; and any sale made before or after the time herein limited, shall be voidable at the instance of heirs, devisees or creditors prejudiced thereby.

§ 96. All executors and administrators shall, imme- Bill of sales, diately after making such sales, make, or cause to be made, a bill of the sales of said estate, under oath, describing particularly each article of property sold, to whom sold, and at what price; which sale bill, when thus made and certified by the clerk of such sale and the crier thereof, if any such was employed, as true and correct, shall be returned into the office of the clerk of the county court in the like time as is required in cases of inventories and appraisements.

1

Power to sell.

When personal estate is insufficient.

Proceedings.

Petition.

Petition am'ded

Summons.

SALE OF REAL ESTATE.

§ 97. In all cases, where power is given in any will to sell and dispose of any real estate, or interest therein, and the same is sold and disposed of in the manner and by the persons appointed in such will, the sales shall be good and valid; and where one or more executors shall fail or refuse to qualify, or depart this life before such sales are made, the survivor or survivors shall have the same power and their sales shall be as good and valid as if they all joined in such sales.

§ 98. When the executor or administrator has made a just and true account of the personal estate and debts to the county court, and it is ascertained that the personal estate of a decedent is insufficient to pay the just claims against his estate, and there is real estate to which such decedent had claim or title, such real estate, or such portion as may be necessary to satisfy the indebtedness of such decedent, and the expenses of administration, may be sold in the manner herein provided.

§ 99. The mode of commencing the proceedings for the sale of real estate in such cases shall be by the filing of a petition by the executor or administrator, in the county court of the county where letters testamentary or administration were issued. The widow, heirs and devisees of the testator or intestate, and the guardians of any such as are minors, and the conservators of such as have conservators, and the actual occupants of the premises, where the same or any part thereof are occupied, shall be made parties defendants. If there are persons interested in the premises whose names are not known, then they shall be made parties by the name of unknown owners.

§ 100. The petition shall set forth the facts and circumstances on which the petition is founded, in which shall be stated the amount of claims allowed, with an estimate of the amount of just claims to be presented, and it shall also contain the amount of personal estate which has come to his hands, and the manner in which he has disposed of the same, with a statement of the amount of claims paid. The petition shall be signed by the executor or administrator, and verified by his affidavit, and shall be filed at least ten days before the commencement of the term of court at which the application shall be made.

§ 101. Such application shall be docketed as other causes, and the petition may be amended, heard or continued for notice, or for other cause. The practice in such cases shall be the same as in cases in chancery.

$ 102. Upon the filing of the petition, the clerk of the court where the same may be filed shall issue a summons, directed to the sheriff of the county in which the defendant