G.R. No. 43351, February 26, 1937
- Power of probate court to execute administrator's bond
FACTS:
Manuel Soriano was former administrator of the estate of Cosme. As such administrator, he filed a bond for P5,000 with Januario Pacheco and Raymundo Cordero as sureties. When an account was made, Soriano was indebted to the estate. Thus, the lower court ordered the execution of his bond.
Some time later, Soriano and the new administratrix entered into a settlement whereby Soriano ceded certain real properties to the estate, thereby reducing his indebtedness to P5,000. The sureties now question the jurisdiction of the court to execute the bond.
ISSUE:
- Whether or not a probate court has the power to order the execution of an administrator's bond
HELD:
To begin with, it lies within discretion of the court to select an administrator of the estate of a deceased person. Before an administrator, or an executor, enters upon the execution of his trust, and letters testamentary or of administration are issued, the person to whom they are issued is required to give a bond in such reasonable sum as the court directs, with one or more sufficient sureties, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his trust. The administrator is accountable on his bond along with the sureties for the performance of certain legal obligations.
It is clear that the Court of First Instance, exercising probate jurisdiction, is empowered to require the filing of the administrator's bond, to fix the amount thereof, and to hold it accountable for any breach of the administrator's duty. Possessed, as it is, with an all-embracing power over the administrator's bond and over administration proceedings, a Court of First Instance in a probate proceeding cannot be devoid of legal authority to execute and make that bond answerable for the very purpose for which it was filed. It is true that the law does not say expressly or in so many words tat such court has power to execute the bond of an administrator, but by necessary and logical implication, the power is there as eloquently as if it were phrased in unequivocal term.
