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41 Tenn. 288

Johnson v. Gaines

Tennessee Supreme Court

Decided September 15, 1860

Tennessee Supreme Court · decided 1860-09-15

<p>1. Peobatb or Win. Jurisdiction. A Will cannot he admitted to probate in a County, other than in the one where the testator had his residence at the time of his death; and the Circuit Court of the County, where the testator died, has no jurisdiction of the case, nor can the Will be brought before it by certiorari, when it has already been admitted to probate in another County: See sec. 2169, Code.</p> <p>2. Johnson died in Hawkins County, his place of residence, in 1859. A paper purporting to be his last Will, was admitted to probate in Sullivan County, in which the deceased “ had no residence.’'</p> <p>3. Held, that the paper having been admitted to probate in the County Court of Sullivan that probate must stand until revoked, or vacated, by that Court, or be reversed by the proper appellate tribunal upon appeal, or writ of error.</p>

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently June 1946

1 state decisions

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Johnson appealed · Decided 1860-09-15

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MoKinney, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶2The petition for certiorari in this case, alleges, in substance, that one Hugh Johnson, departed this life in December, 1859, and that the petitioner is sole heir at law and disü’ibutee of his estate. That the residence of the deceased, was in Hawkins County, in this State. That after his death, a paper purporting to be his last Will and testament was offered and admitted to probate in the County Court of Sullivan, (in which County the deceased “had no residence,”) and one Samuel D. Gaines was qualified as executor thereof. It is further alleged, that the petitioner desires to contest the validity of said supposed Will; and, to this end, it is prayed that a writ of certiorari may issue to the Clerk of the County Court of Sullivan, requiring him to transmit the “ original paper,” together with a transcript of the proceedings, to the Circuit Court of Hawkins, that an issue may be there made up to try the validity of the same.

¶3The certiorari was awarded, but at the return Term, the same was dismissed; and from this judgment an appeal in error was prosecuted to this Court.

¶4It is certainly true, if the fact be as stated in the petition, that the County Court of Sullivan had no jurisdiction to take the probate of the Will, or to grant letters testamentary to the executor: See Code sec. 2169. It is equally true, nevertheless, that the Circuit Court of Hawkins had no jurisdiction of the . case made by the petitioner. The paper having been admitted to probate in the County Court of Sullivan, that probate must stand until revoked or vacated by that Court, or reversed by *290the proper appellate tribunal, upon appeal, or writ of error: 1 Meigs’ Dig. secs. 48, 54, 55.

¶5Assuming the facts to be as alleged in the petition, application should have been made to the County Court of Sullivan, to have the probate vacated and annulled; and upon refusal to do so, an appeal or writ of error might have been prosecuted to the Circuit Court of Sullivan.

¶6In this view, the judgment must be affirmed.

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