Chancellor to allow commis sions to trustees. OF THE ORPHANS' COURT. CHAPTER 96. CHAPTER 217, VOL. 18, LAWS OF DELAWARE. AT ACT IN RELATION TO TRUSTEES. SECTION 1. That all trustees now or hereafter to be appointed by will may be allowed commissions as compensation for their services, the amount of the same to be determined by the Chancellor of the State of Delaware in his discretion. Passed at Dover, April 6, 1887. Terms. Powers. ssues. Rules. Testimony in writing. 3. Testimony in writing, for appeals. 5. Appeal no stay, without security. 6. Process; sequestration, 7. Appointment of guardians. Superseded at fourteen if another be 8. Guardians by will; by choice. 11. Removal and resignation of guar- 12. Counter security, when to be given. 13. Receivers to give bond. 14. Valuation of ward's rents. Effect; when made, 15. Guardian accounts to be rendered. 17. When guardian allowed to exceed in come. SEC. 17. Order to sell wood or timber. 19. Investment of money in court. 20. Settlement with wards of court. ment. 23. Guardian to give additional security. 24. Commissions to administrator or trustee on sale of land. Trustee may be required to give security. 25. Records; inspection; indexes. 26. Clerks to certify guardianships, &c., SECTION 1. The Orphans' Court of each county shall be held as provided in Chapter 91.* SEC. 2. The said court shall have authority to arrest and imprison the body, and to sequester goods and chattels, rights and credits, lands and tenements. It may issue process of citation, subpoena, attachment, and sequestration. It may award commissions for taking depositions of witnesses beyond the reach of process, and of witnesses aged, infirm, or about to leave the State, to be read in evidence if their attendance cannot be procured. It may also direct issues of fact to be tried by a jury at the bar of the Superior Court. The said court may also make all such rules and orders as may be necessary for regulating the practice of the court, for the return of writs, commissions and other proceedings therein, entering rules on public officers or others, filing pleadings, and all other rules necessary for conducting causes, or executing orders, or decrees. SEC. 3. In cases where there is an appeal from said court, the testimony, at the request of either party, shall be reduced to writ *See Chapter 216, Vol. 17, Laws of Delaware, on page 708, of this Code. OF THE ORPHANS' COURT. CHAPTER 96. ing and signed by the witnesses, and sent to the appellate court. Neither party shall be deprived of the benefit of an appeal because the testimony has not been so reduced to writing; but in such case the parties may produce and examine witnesses in the court having appellate jurisdiction. limitation. SEC. 4. No appeal from any decree, or order, of the Orphans Appeals; Court shall be received in the Superior Court unless the petition, or assignment of causes of appeal, with a certified copy of the record, be filed in the prothonotary's office within one year after the making of such order, or decree; provided, that this limitation, in re- Proviso. spect to any person under disability of infancy, coverture, or incompetency of mind, at the time of making such order, or decree, shall begin to run from the ceasing of such disability. SEC. 5. An appeal shall not be a stay of proceedings in the Or-Security. phan's Court, unless the appellant give security, to be approved by the court, to prosecute the appeal with effect, and perform the order, or decree, appealed from, if it be not reversed, and to abide by and fulfill such order, or decree, as shall be made against him upon the appeal. SEC. 6. Process of citation, subpoena, and attachment for con- Process, tempt, may be issued into every county. Upon filing a petition in the clerk's office, process of citation, if prayed for, shall be issued of course. Process of subpoena shall be issued on application to the clerk. A sequestration shall bind property, real and personal, rights and Sequestration, credits, from the service thereof; and shall hold the same paramount to any transfers, liens, or acts, of a subsequent date. how long to SEC. 7. The Orphan's Court shall have authority to appoint Guardianship. guardians to minors. The guardianship shall continue, of males Guardianship, until their age of twenty-one years; of females, until their age of continue. twenty-one years, or marriage. [Provided that the guardianship Chap. 257, vol. 19. of the person person of any female minor shall continue only until her marriage.] But when a guardian is appointed of a minor under fourteen years old, unless such appointment be according to a deed, or the last will of his father, if he, after arriving to the age of fourteen years, shall choose another person for a guardian, the court shall appoint the person so chosen, if there be no just cause, to the contrary, and the preceding guardianship shall be thereby superseded. SEC. 8. A father may, by deed, or last will, name a guardian for By will. his child, who shall be appointed, if there be no just cause to the contrary. A minor, over fourteen years old, may choose a guardian, and Choice the court, if there be no just cause to the contrary, shall appoint the person chosen. When a minor is under the age of fourteen years, or is resident time Bond. Entry on docket. Further security. Removal of guardian. Counter security. OF THE ORPHANS' COURT. CHAPTER 96. out of the State, or neglects to choose a proper guardian, the court may appoint a guardian according to its discretion. SEC. 9. Every person appointed guardian, shall, with sufficient surety, become bound to the ward in a penal sum to be fixed by the court, by a joint and several obligation, to be, with the security, approved by the court, with condition that if the said guardian of shall duly render according to law, just and true accounts of his guardianship, and if the said his executors, or administrators, upon the determination or ceasing to him in the possession of the said shall in all things faithfully perform and fulfill his duty as guardian as aforesaid, then this obligation shall be void. The condition may be adapted to the case of several guardians, or of a female guardian, or ward, by the requisite variation from said form. No entry of the appointment of a guardian shall be made until such bond be given and approved; and a note thereof, with the penalty of the bond, and the surety, or sureties, shall be subjoined to the record of appointment; but no certificate of approval shall be necessary to the validity of the bond. SEC. 10. If it shall appear in any case, that the bond is insufficient, the Orphans' Court shall order the guardian to give further security, and if such order be not complied with, shall remove him from office. Further security shall be taken in the same form as original security. SEC. 11. The Orphans' Court may remove a guardian for any sufficient cause; and a guardian may, on his petition, be allowed to resign his trust when it shall appear to the court proper to allow the same; and on every such removal, or resignation, and also on the death of any guardian, the court may appoint another in his stead. The court shall direct the guardian, so resigning, or removed, to render a full account of his guardianship before the reg ister, and may order him to pay and deliver all the money, effects and estate in his hands, as such guardian, to his successor, or to a receiver, appointed by the court, and may enforce such orders. The court may also order suit to be brought on the guardian bond, which suit may be prosecuted in the ward's name by next friend, or guardian; and it shall in no way affect, or impair, the right of excepting to the said guardian's accounts. SEC. 12. The Orphans' Court shall, on the petition of the surety of an executor, administrator, or guardian, and proof that he is in danger of suffering injury, or loss, from such suretyship, order such executor, administrator, or guardian, to give the petitioner sufficient counter security to be approved of by the court; and if he neglect OF THE ORPHANS' COURT. CHAPTER 96. to obey such order, the court may remove him from office, and order him to pay and deliver all the money, effects and estate in his hands, as such executor, administrator, or guardian, to another guardian, or to a receiver by the said court appointed, and may enforce obedience to such order. SEC. 13. A receiver, appointed under this chapter, shall become Receiver's bond, bound, with sufficient surety to the State, in a joint and several obligation, to be approved by the court, with condition, in substance, to account for all money, effects and estate which shall come to his hands pursuant to his appointment; and to pay and deliver the same as the said court shall order; and to well and faithfully execute the trusts and duties of his office of receiver. rents. Chap. 553, vol. 14. SEC. 14. [Upon the appointment of a guardian, if the ward have Valuation of any real estate, the court shall, by an order, direct three judicious and impartial persons to view such real estate and estimate its yearly rental value, and note the buildings, orchards, fences, and other improvements, the estimated portion of cleared land and wood land, and of meadow or marsh, whether any and what repairs are necessary to the tenable condition of the premises, and the probable cost of such repairs, and whether any and what improvements, other than repairs, would be of benefit or advantage to the minor, and the probable cost of such improvements, and make return to the court under their hands. The return, if confirmed, shall authorize the guardian to do the repairs recommended therein, Repairs. but the court shall have discretionary power in regard to the im- Improvements. provements recommended, and may order the guardian to make such improvements, or so much of them as the court may deem proper, and for this purpose may appropriate a specified sum out of the capital of the minor. The return shall not be conclusive to charge the guardian at all events with the estimated rental value, Guardian's but only if by due diligence he may receive so much, and if by such diligence he might have received more he shall account therefor. But if the guardian shall occupy or cultivate the lands of his ward, he shall, in all cases, be responsible for such estimated yearly rental value. But the court may, for cause, set aside the return, and may make other orders for the same purpose. All the commissioners must view the premises, but a majority may determine any matter. They must first be sworn or affirmed to perform their duties faith- Oath. fully and impartially. It shall be the guardian's duty to have the Order executed order executed within three months from the making of it. If he months. neglect this duty, or if the commissioners, after request, neglect to do their duty, it shall be a contempt of court, and may be punished by fine not exceeding thirty dollars.] liability. within three SEC. 15. Every guardian shall render accounts of his guardian- Accounts. ship, as required by chapter 78. SEC. 16. The Orphans' Court may order that any property in Delivery of the guardian's possession, as such, at the close of the guardianship, property. Guardian allowed to exceed income; when. Investment of money in guardian's hands. Chap 200,vol 11. Investment of OF THE ORPHANS' COURT. CHAPTER 96. shall be delivered to the ward, or his representatives, and enforce obedience to such order. SEC. 17. The court may direct a guardian to expend a specified sum in the maintenance and education of his ward, or the repair, or improvement of his real estate; and may also direct such portion of the wood, or timber, growing upon the land of the ward as may not be necessary for the use of the same, to be cut and sold for the same purpose. 1 Without such directions, a guardian shall not be allowed to exceed the clear income of the ward's estate. SEC. 18. Upon application of a guardian, the court may direct money in his hands to be invested by him, as guardian, in stocks in this State, or funded debt of the United States, to be designated by the court, or to be lent by him, as guardian, on security to be approved by the court, for periods not exceeding a year and one month; which loan may be continued, on his application, from time to time, for the same period; and a guardian, faithfully following the directions of the court, shall not be liable for the failure of the security, or any loss resulting from any such investment: provided, he shall have used due and reasonable care and diligence to prevent the same. If money cannot be so lent, or invested, the guardian shall not be charged with interest, unless he derives benefit from, or uses the money. [If in any case a guardian shall not be able to settle with and pay to his or her ward, on the termination of his or her guardianship, the money due from said guardian to said ward, in consequence of the absence of said ward from this State, and the place of his or her residence being unknown to said guardian, it shall be lawful for said guardian to settle and pay said money into the Orphans' Court in and for the county in which he or she was appointed such guardian, and it shall be the duty of the said court in which such settlement and payment shall be made as aforesaid, to invest the said money for the use and benefit of said ward, and thereupon the said guardian and his or her surety or sureties, shall be discharged from all liability for or on account of the said money so paid into said court as aforesaid, and of any interest thereon from the date of said payment into said court as aforesaid.] SEC. 19. The Orphans' Court shall have control of money demoney in court. posited in bank by executors or administrators to the credit of minors under chapter 89, and may invest any money so deposited, or any money paid into court to the credit of any minor, in stocks of this State, or funded debt of the United States, or by loan on judgment boud, or mortgage, or both, and with surety, as the court shall approve of and may change, renew, extend, call in, or collect, any such investment, sell, transfer, or assign, stocks, or |