Estate of Adamson

Richard Adamson died leaving a widow. His estate consisted of personal property amounting to $523.38, and a statutory homestead from community property, valued at $3,500.

Two questions arise: 1. Can the court assign the personal property to the widow (the homestead having been set off to her), under section 1469 of the Code of Civil Procedure? 2. If the estate is so assigned, must notice to creditors be published ?

Section 1469 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: “If on the return of the inventory it shall appear therefrom that the value of the whole estate does not exceed fifteen hun"dred dollars, and if there be a widow, the court or judge thereof, shall by order require all persons (to appear and show cause, etc.). If upon the hearing the court finds that the value of the estate does not exceed fifteen hundred dollars, it shall by decree assign to the widow (or minor children, as the case may be) ‘the whole of the estate,’ subject to encumbrances, and after payment of expenses of last illness, expenses of administration and funeral charges, and the title thereof shall vest absolutely in the widow, or minor children.”

In the case in hand, if the homestead is to be…