In re the Estate of Smith

Wingate, S.

Since time immemorial it has been one of the landmarks of surrogate’s procedure that a personal claim of an accountant was improper of payment until its propriety had been testimonially established to the satisfaction of the surrogate. This requirement was incorporated in the Revised Statutes, which provided that “ No part of the property of the deceased shall be retained by an executor or administrator, in satisfaction of his own debt or claim, until it shall have been proven to, and allowed by, the surrogate.” (2 R. S. 88, § 33.)

The reason underlying this statutory rule is…