In re the Accounting of Lane

Rttbensteiet, S.

Two questions are presented in connection with the settlement of an executor’s account. The first concerns itself with priority of payment between the State of New York (hereinafter referred to as the State) and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States (hereinafter referred to as Equitable). The second relates to the amount of counsel fee to be awarded to the attorney for the executor of an insolvent estate.

The basic facts involved in the first issue are not in dispute. On March 25, 1932, Equitable recovered a judgment against testator in the sum of…