In the Matter of Estate of Simmons
California Supreme Court · 1872-04-05 · cited 27×
The case concerned an appeal by Orrin Simmons, the newly appointed administrator de bonis non of the estate of decedent Orrin Simmons, from a Probate Court order approving the final account of his predecessor Adolphus Hollub. Hollub had been appointed in 1861 after discovering unadministered real property in Sacramento, filed inventories valuing it at increasing amounts despite disputed title and adverse possession, sought but failed to obtain an order to sell the property, and was later replaced; the account included claims for attorney fees and commissions based on the property's appraised value. The court reversed the allowance of one attorney's fee and Hollub's commissions but affirmed the rest of the order. It reasoned that under the relevant statutes an administrator is entitled to commissions only on the value of estate property actually taken into possession and accounted for, not on property merely inventoried without possession or recovery, and that expenses must be limited to those reasonably necessary.
