Goad

Alexander Montgomery died November 4, 1893, leaving a last will and testament containing the following provisions:

The will was admitted to probate in the superior court of San Francisco November 22, 1893, and letters testamentary issued to the executors therein named. In April, 1895, while the administration of the estate was still pending, Goad and Foster, as the trustees for the children of the deceased, brought an action in the superior court for San Francisco against the several parties interested in the estate, setting forth in their complaint the execution and terms of the will; that the estate of said deceased consisted mainly of real estate and of indebtedness secured by real estate; that there was not in the hands of the executors money sufficient to pay the several legacies named in the will; that owing to the depreciated condition of the market and business generally, any attempt to convert the real estate into money would not produce sufficient to pay the legacies, and would greatly postpone the settlement of the estate; that in view of these considerations it had been proposed that, instead of converting the property of the estate into money, it should be…