Beckwith v. Bates

This case presents the question: Has the probate court jurisdiction to administer the estate of one presumed by long-time absence to be dead but, in fact, alive? Nina Wright, now Beckwith, was born in the city of Adrian, this State, and lived there until 1900, when she was 19 or 20 years of age, at which time she left but returned in 1903 to attend the funeral of her father and then again left the city and for 20 years her whereabouts remained unknown to her relatives. In 1917, Mrs. Beckwith inherited from the estate of a deceased aunt the sum of $1,802.16, which was deposited with the…