Opinion
Filed 12 December 1962.
Wills 59 — Husband and wife were killed in an accident, the husband surviving the wife a short time. The father and mother of the husband filed a renunciation of their right to any share in the estate of the wife to which the husband might otherwise be entitled. The husband's father was also administrator for his son's estate, and the administrators of both the husband and wife had respectively filed suits against third persons for the wrongful deaths. Held: The renunciation was within the purview of G.S. 29-10, but such renunciation may not be allowed to affect adversely any rights or defenses in the actions for wrongful death.
APPLICATION for writ of certiorari allowed by the Supreme Court 5 September 1962. From DURHAM.
Everett, Everett Everett for petitioners.
The facts pertinent to this appeal are as follows:
Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. and his wife, Jo Ann Lasater Glenn, died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on 30 November 1961. Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. survived his wife. Both decedents died intestate.
Herbert Vincent Glenn, Sr. qualified as administrator of his son's estate on 18 December 1961. Jo Ann Lasater Glenn's mother, Mrs. J. R. Lasater, qualified was administratrix of her daughter's estate on 2 January 1962.
The administrator of Herbert Vincent Glenn's estate and the administratrix of Jo Ann Lasater Glenn's estate have instituted actions in the Superior Court of Durham County, which are now pending, in which these personal representatives are attempting to collect damages from certain defendants for the wrongful deaths of the aforesaid decedents.
Herbert Vincent Glenn, Sr., as administrator of the estate of Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. and individually as an heir of said estate, together with Edith C. Glenn, the mother of Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. and the wife of Herbert Vincent Glenn, Sr., as an heir of her son's estate, petitioned the Clerk of the Superior Court of Durham County to be allowed to renounce their succession to any share in the estate of Jo Ann Lasater Glenn to which the estate of Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. might otherwise be entitled, as provided in G.S. 29-10.
The Clerk of the Superior Court of Durham County gave permission to file the proposed renunciation, and said renunciation was filed in writing and acknowledged and approved by said Clerk as required by the statute, G.S. 29-10, subsection (a). The statute also requires that such renunciation be approved by the Resident Judge of the Superior Court. Judge Hall, Resident Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District being of the opinion that G.S. 29-10 does not authorize a renunciation by an administrator, declined to approve the same.
We are inclined to the view that since Herbert Vincent Glenn, Jr. died intestate, and Herbert Vincent Glenn, Sr. is the administrator of his son's estate, and that he and his wife, Edith C. Glenn, are the sole heirs and beneficiaries of their son's estate, the renunciation as prayed for is permissible within the intent and purpose of the statute.
The renunciation, however, shall not adversely affect any rights or defenses which may be asserted to defeat any claim on behalf of the estate of the decedent.
Error remanded.