In re Estate of Welch

On August 28, 1888, subsequent to the filing of the inventory, the court, after notice of the hearing thereof given by posting for ten days, heard the application of Honor Welch, the surviving wife, for the payment to her of $200 per month as family allowance until the settlement of the estate. The petition was granted, but the amount was fixed at $125 per month. The family allowance has not been paid since March 14, 1889. This is a proceeding to compel its payment. The questions involved all turn upon the force and effect of the order.

An order made by the court sitting in probate, within the scope of its jurisdiction, is as forceful, efficacious and binding as to the matter therein and thereby determined, and as to the rights thereby granted or secured, as any judgment could be: Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1908, subd. 1; Howell v. Budd, 91 Cal. 342 , 27 Pac. 747 ; Garwood v. Garwood, 29 Cal. 520 .

An order of the court sitting in probate, making an allowance authorized by statute, is necessarily an adjudication of the existence of every fact requisite to support the order, whether the fact be expressly found or not.

An order of family allowance creates a vested right to all sums…