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59 N.H. 366

Spofford v. Smith

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided December 5, 1879

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1879-12-05

Bill in Equity, by the heir of a testator, to cancel the will, alleging that the testator was fraudulently induced to execute it; that upon the petition of Smith, one of the defendants and executor of the will, the plaintiff being a minor, the probate court appointed Currier, the other defendant, his guardian ad litem; that Currier was the plaintiff’s trustee under the will; that Smith obtained the probate of the will in pretended solemn form, after notice by publication,…

Relies on Poplin v. Hawke · Gordon v. Gordon · Lyme v. Allen

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1879-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently June 1946

3 state decisions

1018791880189019001910192019301940decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Bingham, J.

¶1 In chancery the defendant, instead of filing a formal demurrer or plea, may insist on any special matter in his answer, and have the same benefit therefrom as if he had pleaded the same or demurred to the bill. Rule 10. The answer may be amended by inserting the demurrer in it. The probate of the will raised the issue of fraud alleged in the bill. There is no allegation of insufficiency of notice or other reason why the probate court, in *367 appointing tbe guardian and allowing the will, did not have jurisdiction. A decree of the probate court upon matters within its jurisdiction cannot be impeached by a collateral proceeding. Gordon v. Gordon, 55 N. H. 399; Lyme v. Allen, 51 N. H. 242; Railroad v. Railroad, 57 N. H. 200; Poplin v. Hawke, 8 N. H. 124. When the answer is withdrawn, or amended by making the demurrer a part of it, the demurrer will be sustained.

¶2 Case discharged.

Allen, J., did not sit: the others concurred.
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