Order Entered In Holmes Case

Order Entered in Holmes Case

Judge of Probate Watkins has handed down a written opinion in the matter of Jonathan R. Holmes, incompetent. The parties live in Manchester. The hearing on Friday was sharply contested by the attorneys of the respective interests.

The guardian had asked the court for an order directing him to withdraw money from the banks and invest it in farm property. The wife of the incompetent objected to the change and to the land which had been selected, and suggested other land. The judge reviews the subject and states that there is enough money for such investment and that it was shown by four witnesses that the land was worth the price to be paid for it. He said the testimony showed that last year the land had produced a revenue of $1,181, and that was much more than the money would bring in on interest in the bank. He said also that it was advisable that the money be invested, as in the past, as was shown by the records of the probate court very often the personal property was wasted and sometimes entirely disappeared. The inexperience of the average guardian in loaning funds of his ward and the ease with which personal estates diminish and vanish in many cases is apparent. After the trust fund has been invested in realty in the name of the ward the guardian holds the real estate subject to the control of the court, and the danger of a dimunition or waste is greatly lessened. The council for the contestant states "that the effect of such a transfer may make a possible change in case some person should die before another; he insists that some might not get as much in that event."

"It is plainly a fixed rule of law that property of an incompetent or lunatic converted in the hands of the guardian reclaims its original character in respect of the rights of heirs or distributees to the succession."