Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[graphic]

A

CHAPTER XII

GUARDIANS, EXECUTORS, AND ADMINISTRATORS

CONSIDERABLE portion of the preceding chapter

has been devoted to the consideration of the offices of guardians and executors, from the standpoints of testators. The duties and responsibilities of these offices remain to be considered from the standpoints of those who have been or who may be called upon to occupy such positions.

In view of the remarks which are contained in the preceding chapter, concerning the particular traits of character which are deemed to be essential to the proper performance of the duties of guardians, it is to be apprehended that conscientious persons will not accept such important trusts until, with full understandings of the difficulties and responsibilities which will certainly be involved, they shall have thoroughly satisfied themselves that they are, in all possible respects, fit and competent for the performance of the important duties which will justly be expected of them. Their abilities for the management of their own finances will afford satisfactory answers to questions as to whether they shall be competent to manage the finances of others. Honest, careful, and long-continued examinations of their own personal characters will be able satisfactorily to answer all other questions concerning abilities for the fulfilment of the remaining duties which will be required.

To conscientious lovers of children, who shall have also moderate business abilities, the duties of guardians will not prove to be extraordinarily difficult. While such duties should not be assumed without careful and adequate

considerations of all the possibilities which may be involved in particular cases; neither should they be shirked by those who shall be competent. The avoiding of the duties of guardians by those who ought to assume them may be the means of placing them in the hands of far less capable and conscientious persons.

The conscientious and complete performance of a guardian's duties will not fail to meet with ample rewards, in the delightful contemplations of a satisfied conscience, in the lasting consolation of a sacred, and perhaps an arduous trust, which has been faithfully performed, and in the grateful assurance of the honest approbation of all good people. No less certain will be the dreadful remorse, and the bitter and universal condemnation, which will be the portion of that person who seems to be the most execrable of human beings, the unfaithful guardian.

After having complied with the preliminary requirements. of the law, the first duties of the guardian of the person and estate of an infant will be to receive the person and the estate of the infant from the hands of the executors or others who may have the temporary custody, and to make a careful and complete inventory and account of the property of the ward.

The regular and continuing duties of guardians will be the management of the estates of their wards (of which complete accounts must always be kept, charging the estates with all necessary and lawful expenditures and crediting them with all incomes, increases, and profits), and the maintenance, training, and education of the wards.

For the proper management of the estates of wards, the precautious principles which have been expounded in this work, when supplemented by the suggestions which will follow in this place, should be entirely sufficient. Perhaps, in the majority of cases, it may be said that the duties of guardians, with respect to the estates of their wards, will have been satisfactorily performed if, at the terminations of their offices, their wards shall have been properly provided for and educated without any depreciation of the values of their estates; or, in other words, if the estates shall have

been so managed that the incomes will have been sufficient for the proper support and education of the wards.

But, evidently, this proposition must be qualified in accordance to the magnitudes of the estates of wards. If the estate of a ward shall be so small that it cannot possibly furnish an income which will be sufficient for the support and education of the ward, the principal of the estate must, under the permission of the courts, necessarily be used; and the ward must be prepared, as wisely and as speedily as is possible, for the necessity of self-support.

If, on the contrary, the estate of a ward shall be much larger than is necessary for the furnishing of a sufficient income, the duties of the guardian, with respect to the management of the estate, will be fulfilled only by the securing of a proper and corresponding increase in the principal of the

estate.

The office of guardian is a strictly fiduciary one, and guardians are entitled to no profits or benefits, except the compensations which are allowed by, and specified by, the laws, from the estates of their wards. Therefore all profits and increases must be credited to the estates of the wards, and must also be strictly accounted for by the guardians.

The maintenance, training, and education of wards must be in accordance with their prospective social and financial positions. Thus, wards of ample wealth and belonging to families of high social standing will be entitled to the proper luxuries of maintenance and of education; while those who will be compelled to earn their livings by their own efforts must be trained in frugality and industry, and educated in the directions which will be necessary for their self-support. But, in all cases, it cannot be doubted that wards should be thoroughly inculcated with the knowledge and appreciation of the true value of property, and of the rightful purposes and employments for which it is chiefly to be prized.

The duties of guardians concerning the moral and religious training of their wards need not be discussed here; for such considerations will manifestly extend beyond the domain of this volume, and into the fields of ethics and of individual

conscience. Nevertheless, no elaboration of ethics, and no sectarianism of conscience, will be able to gainsay the statement that the duties of guardians will be by no means fulfilled unless every reasonable endeavor shall be employed for the thorough instruction of their wards in the imperishable principles of truth, integrity, humanity, and virtue.

Guardians who are appointed by the courts are usually required to render annual, or other periodical accounts of the conditions of the estates which have been placed in their hands; and all guardians who shall have charge of the properties of wards will be required to render final accounts of the conditions of the estates before they can be legally discharged from their duties. The necessity that guardians shall keep complete accounts of all receipts and disbursements which are connected with the estates of their wards, and that they shall obtain and preserve receipts or vouchers for all expenditures, will therefore be at once evident.

Many persons, who are. entirely unacquainted with the duties of executors and administrators find themselves placed in positions of quandary and embarrassment by the death of relatives or friends, who have selected them for the duties of executors, under the provisions of last wills and testaments, or by the dying intestate of relatives for whose estates they must act as administrators. For the benefit and instruction of such persons, the principal regular duties of executors and administrators will be explained, with such suggestions as may appear to be necessary for their assistance in the premises.

Before entering upon the discussion of the duties of executors and administrators, however, it will be well to call attention to the fact that executors and administrators have charge of the personal property only of decedents, the title to real property passing directly to the heirs or devisees, unless, by special provisions in their wills, decedents shall direct otherwise.

The practical distinctions between executors and administrators may also be explained at this point, after which the

consideration of the duties of both will be included under those of executors.

The chief point of difference between executors and administrators is that the former act by virtue of appointments to certain duties which are contained in last wills and testaments, and the latter act by virtue of appointments to similar duties, in cases of intestacy, by courts having charge of probate matters. The order in which the relatives of intestates are entitled to appointment as administrators is generally prescribed by the laws of the States in which intestates shall have lived or died. Generally speaking, surviving husbands or wives of decedents are preferred, and after them the order of the next-of-kin is substantially followed, provided the order shall not be disturbed by renunciation, or disqualification on account of insanity or other legal incapacity.

The first duty of an executor, or of a person who shall be entitled to act as an administrator, will be to attend to the burial of the decedent; and this should be done in a manner which is in keeping with the estate of the decedent, or in accordance with instructions which may be contained in the will. Next in order of the duties of an executor, will be the proving of the decedent's will, and the obtaining of letters testamentary; and the corresponding duty of a person who shall be entitled to the administration of the estate of an intestate will be to obtain from the proper court letters of administration.

These duties will always involve technical, legal proceedings; the services of competent lawyers, for the purpose of obtaining letters testamentary and letters of administration, cannot, therefore, be properly dispensed with. The practical statement of the duty which is in question will therefore be that an executor named in a will, or a person who is entitled to the administration of an intestate's estate, should, at the first opportunitiy, give the necessary information and instructions to a reputable and competent lawyer.

Letters testamentary and letters of administration are issued out of the courts having jurisdiction over probate matters, and constitute the legal authority by which executors

« AnteriorContinuar »