the assets of the estate;1 but this right does not include the right to compromise claims." 62 By the Court of Probate Act in England, an administrator pendente lite has the same powers and duties as a general administrator except the right of distributing the residue of the personalty.68 Generally, however, a special or temporary administrator has no power to pay claims against the estate, and it necessarily follows that he has no authority to either allow or reject them. It has, however, been held that where just debts have been paid and there was sufficient personalty of the estate to satisfy all claims, payments made by a special administrator might properly be ratified in his account.65 The payment of legacies given by the will, or distributing personalty to those entitled thereto under the statute is likewise beyond the authority of a special administrator. He is merely the custodian of the property until the appointment of the regular executor or administrator.66 61 Walker v. Woollaston, 2 P. Wms. 576; Ball v. Oliver, 2 Ves. & B. 96; Masterson v. Brown, 51 Iowa 442, 1 N. W. 791; Libby v. Cobb, 76 Me. 471. 62 Sullivan v. Nicoulin, 113 Iowa 76, 84 N. W. 978; Lambert v. Metropolitan St. R. Co., 33 Misc. Rep. (N. Y.) 579, 68 N. Y. Supp. 877. 63 Statute of 20 & 21 Vict., ch. 77, 70; Tichborne v. Tichborne, L. R. 2 P. & D. 41; Goods of Dawes, L. R. 2 P. & D. 147. See, also, Henderson v. Clarke, 27 Miss. 436. 64 Erwin v. Branch Bank, 14 Ala. 307; Henry v. Superior Court, 93 Cal. 569, 29 Pac. 230; In re Wincox, 85 Ill. App. 613; Richmond v. Campbell, 71 Minn. 453, 73 N. W. 1099; In re Ford, 29 Mont. 283, 74 Pac. 735; Ward v. Magaha, 71 Wash. 679, 129 Pac. 395. In Maryland a special administrator may pay the just debts of the decedent.—Baldwin v. Mitchell, 86 Md. 379, 38 Atl. 775. 65 Matter of Philp, 29 Misc. Rep. (N. Y.) 263, 61 N. Y. Supp. 241. 66 Henderson v. Clarke, 27 Miss. 436; Matter of Philp, 29 Misc. Rep. (N. Y.) 263, 61 N. Y. Supp. 241. § 1286. Administrator Ad Litem. The statutes of many states provide for the appointment of an administrator ad litem whenever it is necessary to have the estate of a deceased person represented in a court proceeding, and there is no executor or administrator of the estate, or such officer is unable to act or is disqualified from acting. The facts rendering such an appointment necessary should appear in the record of the case or be made known to the court by the affidavit of an interested person. An administrator ad litem should not be appointed when the court is competent to render complete justice, thus saving the expense necessitated by the appointment.es The appointment of a special administrator to prosecute an action may also be made by the court.69 The powers of an administrator ad litem are generally limited merely to conducting the litigation, he having no right by independent action to bind any interested parties,7° or to collect any judgment which may be recovered in the action.71 § 1287. Statutes Providing for Settlement of Estates Without Intervention of Probate Court. In Texas it is prescribed by statute that a testator may provide in his will that no other proceedings are re 67 Newman v. Schwerin, 61 Fed. 865, 10 C. C. A. 129; Keith v. McCord, 140 Ala. 402, 37 So. 267; Denning v. Todd, 91 Tenn. 422, 19 S. W. 228. An administrator ad litem may be appointed for the purpose of prosecuting an action against the regular administrator.-Phillips v. Duckett, 112 Ill. App. 587. 68 Ex parte Baker, 118 Ala. 185, 23 So. 996. 69 Estate of Nugent, 77 Mich. 500, 43 N. W. 889. 70 Russell v. Umphlet, 27 Ark. 339. 71 Lowman v. Elmira etc. R. Co., 85 Hun (N. Y.) 188, 32 N. Y. Supp. 579. quired to be had in court in relation to the settlement of his estate than the probate and recording of his will and the return of an inventory, appraisement and lists of claims of his estate.72 An executor acting under a will which provides for the settlement of the estate without administration except as above mentioned is termed an "independent executor."78 Unless the will should otherwise provide, such an independent executor has the same authority to do without order of court that which an ordinary executor could do only under such order." The statutes of the State of Washington likewise provide that a testator may prescribe the manner in which his estate shall be settled, it being necessary only to have the will admitted to probate.75 Wills providing for such administration are commonly designated "non-intervention wills."76 Under such statutes, where the will provides for the settlement of the testator's estate without the intervention of the probate court, the probate court is not justified in interfering with the administration of the estate, but can only exert such control as the statute allows." But in the absence of such a statute, creditors of the decedent or others interested in the estate can not be deprived, by provisions in the will, of the right to have the estate settled in the regularly constituted court.78 72 Texas Rev. Stats., 1895, art. 1995. 78 Ellis v. Mabry, 25 Tex. Civ. App. 164, 60 S. W. 571. 74 Carlton v. Goebler, 94 Tex. 93. 75 Miller v. Borst, 11 Wash. 260, 39 Pac. 662. 76 Matter of Macdonald, 29 Wash. 422, 69 Pac. 1111. 77 Matter of Macdonald, 29 Wash. 422, 69 Pac. 1111. 78 Estate of Reilly, 200 Pa. St. 288, 49 Atl. 939. CHAPTER XLIX. MANNER IN WHICH WILLS ARE PROVED, AND JURISDICTION OF COURTS. § 1288. English Land Transfer Act, 1897: Probate jurisdiction over realty as well as personalty. § 1289. What courts exercise probate jurisdiction in England. § 1290. Division of matters of probate and administration into contentious and non-contentious business. § 1291. Distinction between probate of will in common form and in solemn form. § 1292. Proof of will in common form in England. § 1293. Who may demand proof of will in solemn form. § 1294. Procedure for proof of will in solemn form upon initiative of executor. § 1295. Procedure for proof of will in solemn form upon suit by interested party. § 1296. American practice as to proving will. § 1297. The same subject: How interested parties may contest will. § 1298. Jurisdiction in matters of probate. § 1299. Courts of probate have limited powers. § 1300. Upon what jurisdiction depends: Foreign wills. § 1301. How a will is proved: Mental capacity. § 1302. The same subject: Due execution. Value of attestation clause. § 1303. Proof of holographic wills. § 1304. Probate of nuncupative wills. § 1305. Probate of lost or destroyed wills. § 1306. Proof that lost or destroyed will had not been revoked. 1307. Proof of due execution of lost or destroyed wills. § 1308. Proof of contents of lost or destroyed wills. § 1309. Revocation of former will by subsequent lost or destroyed will. § 1310. The same subject: Revocation by implication. § 1311. What constitutes the last will of a decedent. § 1312. Instrument presented for probate may be admitted in part. § 1313. The same subject: Limited to particular property. § 1314. The same subject: Excluding defamatory matter. § 1288. English Land Transfer Act, 1897: Probate Jurisdiction Over Realty as Well as Personalty. In considering the decisions with reference to probate and administration, there must be borne in mind not only the two forms of proving a will, the common form and the solemn form, but also the statutory changes granting jurisdiction to courts of probate over the real property of decedents. In England it was not until the Land Transfer Act, 1897, statute of 60 & 61 Victoria, ch. 65, that it was provided that where real estate is vested in any person without a right in any other person to take by survivorship, it shall on his death, notwithstanding any testamentary disposition, devolve to and become vested in his executor or administrator from time to time as if it were a chattel real vesting in him; and this includes real estate over which a person executes by will a general power of appointment. Under this act, probate and letters of administration may be granted in respect to real estate, although there is no personal estate. This applies to cases of death after January 1, 1898. The executor or administrator of a deceased person holds such real estate as trustee for the persons by law entitled thereto, and those persons shall have the same power of requiring a transfer of real estate as persons beneficially entitled to personal estate have of requiring a transfer of such personalty. All enactments and rules of law relating to the effect of probate or letters of administration as respects chattels real, the dealings with the |