In re Estate of Smith

This appeal is prosecuted from an order of the court settling the final account and ordering distribution of the estate of William F. Smith, deceased. The estate was insolvent. The claim of Andrew Thorne being a preferred claim, upon the settlement of the account it wa,s ordered that the money of the estate be applied to its payment. Lynch, ad *463 ministrator of the estate of Eudora V. Smith, claiming that her estate also held a preferred claim against the estate of William F. Smith, appeals from the order made by the trial court. The only question presented by this appeal arises upon the contention of the administrator of her estate that the claim of that estate is also a preferred claim.

Is the claim presented by this administrator a preferred claim? Section 1643 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: “The debts of the estate subject to the provisions of section 1305 must be paid in the following order: .... 4. Judgments rendered against the decedent in his lifetime, and mortgages in the order of their date.” Was this claim based upon a judgment rendered against the deceased, William F. Smith, during his lifetime? The facts are these: Eudora Y. Smith, his wife, brought suit…