DocketNumber: No. 264
Citation Numbers: 160 N.E.2d 419, 111 Ohio App. 25
Judges: LONG, J.
Filed Date: 7/7/1959
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
In 1939, Lynn O. Christman was appointed administrator de bonisnon of the estate of his father, Louis E. Christman. The principal asset of the estate was the family farm, appraised at $4,000.
In 1940, the Probate Court authorized the defendant administrator to sell the farm at private sale for not less than $4,000. Thereafter, he sold the farm to his wife, defendant Ethel Christman, for $4,000. In purchasing, she assumed the balance due on a mortgage, which amounted to $3,535.83, and paid the balance of the purchase price in cash. The sale was confirmed by the Probate Court shortly thereafter; the defendants, Lynn O. and Ethel Christman, have lived on the farm since the sale, and have made various improvements. Sometime later, about 27 acres of the farm were sold to the Goshen Local School District which built a school thereon. As the years passed, the land became valuable for residential purposes, and defendants have laid out a subdivision from which various lots have been sold. *Page 26
At this point, it should be mentioned that plaintiffs are brother and sister of the defendant Lynn O. Christman; that over the years they have visited the farm; that they were parties to the original proceedings in the Probate Court; that they had full knowledge of the fact of the sale to the wife of defendant Lynn O. Christman; and that for 17 years the plaintiffs made no complaint of any phase of the administration of the estate until they filed the present action in 1957.
The trial court held that, under the circumstances, plaintiffs were guilty of laches; that the statute of limitations, Section
Judgment accordingly.
MATTHEWS, P. J., and O'CONNELL, J., concur.