Opinion
File Nos. 10228, 10291.
Opinion filed August 2, 1966
Executors and Administrators.
Appointment of administrator of estate without bond and issuance of letter of administration was not void but voidable and furnishing of bond in amount later fixed and approved by appointing court cured irregularity in the appointment.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Yankton County; Hon. C.C. Puckett, Judge.
Proceeding for appointment of an administrator. From orders of the Circuit Court dismissing appeal and denying application for certiorari, an appeal is taken.
Affirmed.
Louis B. French, Yankton, Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz Smith, Robert C. Heege, Sioux Falls, for appellants.
Mumford, Protsch Sage, Vincent Protsch, Howard, Roy A. Nord, Madison, for respondents.
The County Court of Yankton County, South Dakota, entered an order appointing an administrator of the estate of Hermanis Riesberg without bond and pursuant thereto issued letters of administration. In #10228 Elza Riesberg, who did not appear at the hearing, has appealed from an order of the circuit court dismissing her appeal from county court. In #10291 she also has appealed from the order of the circuit court denying her application for certiorari requesting review of the jurisdiction of the county court to issue such letters of administration without bond.
A majority of the court is of the opinion the appointment of the administrator was not void, but voidable and the furnishing of a bond in an amount later fixed and approved by the county court cured the irregularity in the appointment. In re Pitchi's Estate, 231 N.C. 485, 57 S.E.2d 649.
Affirmed.
ROBERTS, BIEGELMEIER and HOMEYER, JJ., concur.
HANSON, J., concurs in result.
The amount of the administrator's bond was fixed and the bond approved about two years after the appeal from the order granting letters of administration was perfected. In view of SDC 1960 Supp. 35.2108 and 35.2110, and in the absence of any record entry that the preservation of the estate required the issuance of such letters, it seems to me that these actions were a nullity. I think the exclusive jurisdiction over the qualification of the administrator was then in the circuit court.