In re Estate of Callaghan

The questions to be determined are whether there has been a “Final Settlement of the Accounts of the Executor” within the meaning of section 1665, Code of Civil Procedure, so as to entitle the legatees to distribution, and whether notice of the settlement and of the distribution has been given in such a way as to make regular a degree of distribution at the present time.

1. What is a “final” account?

The first question resolves itself into a question as to what is meant by “Final Settlement of the Accounts” in section 1665. A comparison of the different sections of the code will make it clear that such a “final settlement” has now occurred.

The account filed herein was designated by the executors as their “First Annual Account.” Therg is nothing in the code *86 to warrant such, a title being given to this, or, indeed, to any account. No reference is made in the code to an “annual account”; nor is there any requirement anywhere that a particular designation should be given by the executors to any account which they may file. The code leaves the nature of the account to be determined by its intrinsic qualities and contents, and not by any title or heading which may irrelevantly…