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the hands of the executor or administrator to pay all the debts and legacies and the allowance to the widow and minor children, the probate court may, on petition of the executor or administrator, order the sale of the real estate or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay the same."

Section 4471 provides that real estate shall descend subject to the debts of the intestate.

"SEC. 4638. Every executor or administrator shall render his account of his administration within the time allowed him for the settlement of the estate and at such other time as he is required by the court, until the estate is wholly settled.

"SEC. 4639. When the estate is fully administered, the executor or administrator shall petition the probate court for an order fixing a time and place in which it will examine, settle and allow the final account of the executor or administrator, and for the assignment of the residue of the estate to the persons entitled thereto by law. The final account shall be filed in the probate court at the time of filing said petition.

"SEC. 4640. Upon the filing of said petition the court shall make an order fixing a time and place for hearing the same. Said order shall be published according to law.

"SEC. 4641. On hearing such petition, the probate court shall examine every executor and administrator upon oath as to the truth and correctness of his account before the same is allowed; but such examination may be omitted when no objection is made to the allowance of the account and there is no reason to doubt the justness and correctness thereof; and the heirs, legatees and devisees may be examined on oath upon any matter relating to the account of any executor or administrator whenever the correctness thereof is called in question. If from such examination the account is found just and correct the probate court shall allow and settle the same, and upon satisfactory evidence shall determine the rights of the persons to the residue of said estate and unless partition is asked for and directed as hereinafter provided, make a decree accordingly, assigning said residue to the persons thereto entitled by law.

"SEC. 4642. In such decree the court shall name the persons and the proportion or parts to which each is entitled, and if

Opinion of the Court.

real estate, give a description as near as may be of the land to which each is entitled; and such persons may demand and recover their respective shares from the executor or administrator, or any other person having the same; and a certified copy of any decree of distribution of real estate may be recorded in the office of the register of deeds in every county in this State in which are situated any of the lands described in such decree; and such register of deeds shall enter in his reception book the name of the deceased as grantor, and the names of the heirs, legatees or devisees, as grantees, and shall make in such reception book so many separate grantor and grantee entries for such decree as there are persons taking real estate in such county under said decree."

"SEC. 4509. At the time of granting letters testamentary or of administration, the court shall make an order limiting the time in which creditors may present claims against the deceased for examination and allowance, which shall not be less than six months nor more than one year from the date of such order; said order shall fix the time or times and place in which the court will examine and adjust claims and demands of all persons against deceased. No claim or demand shall be received after expiration of the time so limited, unless for good cause shown the court may in its discretion receive, hear and allow such claim upon notice to the executor or administrator, but no claim shall be received or allowed unless presented within one year and six months from the time when notice of the order is given, as provided in the next section, and before final settlement, and the allowance or disallowance of any claim shall have the same force and effect as a judgment for or against the estate; .

"SEC. 4510. The order prescribed in section one hundred and two shall be published according to law, and shall be notice to all creditors and persons interested.

"SEC. 4511. All claims arising upon contracts, whether the same be due, not due, or contingent, must be presented to the probate court within the time limited in said order, and any claim not so presented is barred forever; such claim or demand may be pleaded as an offset or counterclaim to an action brought

Opinion of the Court.

by the executor or administrator. All claims shall be itemized, and verified by the claimant, his agent or attorney, stating the amount due, that the same is just and true, that no payments have been made thereon which are not credited, and that there are no offsets to the same to the knowledge of affiant. If the claim be not due, or be contingent, when presented, the particulars of such claim must be stated. The probate court may require satisfactory vouchers or proofs to be produced in support of any claim."

"SEO. 4514. No action at law for the recovery of money only shall be brought in any of the courts of this State against any executor, administrator or guardian upon any claim or demand which may be presented to the probate court except as provided in this code. No claim against a decedent shall be a charge against or lien upon his estate unless presented to the probate court as herein provided within five years after the death of such decedent: Provided, That this provision shall not be construed as affecting any lien existing at the date of such death: Provided, further, That said provision shall not be construed as affecting the right of a creditor to recover from the next of kin, legatee or devisee to the extent of assets received. This provision shall be applicable to the estate of persons who died prior as well as to those who may die after adoption of this code." "SEC. 4517. Upon the allowance or disallowance of any claim the court shall make its order allowing or disallowing the same. The order shall contain the date of allowance and the amount allowed, the amount disallowed, and be attached to the claim with the offsets if any."

"SEC. 4522. In case of appeal from the allowance or disallowance of any claim in whole or in part, the District Court shall certify to the probate court the decision or judgment rendered therein."

Section 4665 provides for an appeal to the District Court. Section 4668 provides for serving notice of appeal. Section 4672 provides that the District Court shall try the case as if originally commenced in that court.

Section 4673 provides that pleadings shall be made up as in civil actions, and the issues of fact tried as in other actions.

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Section 4676. In case of a reversal or modification of the order appealed from the District Court makes such order as the probate court should have made, and certifies its judgment to the probate court.

"SEC. 4730. The probate court may, at any time, correct, modify or amend its records to conform with the facts in the same manner as a District Court."

State ex rel. Lindekugel v. Probate Court of Sibley County, 33 Minnesota, 94, 96, was an application to the District Court for a writ of prohibition to the probate court, the latter court having granted a petition to set aside a sale of real estate confirmed by the probate court, and it was held by the Supreme Court of the State that there was no jurisdiction in the probate court, saying:

"The want of jurisdiction in this case is still further emphasized by the fact that the administration has been closed by the allowance of the administrator's accounts and his discharge, and there is no attempt to reopen it. So long as it remains closed the probate court has no more jurisdiction over the estate, or the property belonging to it, or which once belonged to it, than if there never had been any administration and there was no attempt to institute one. The jurisdiction of the court has been fully exhausted, and it can do nothing further unless it is restored in the manner pointed out in the statute."

In State ex rel. Dana v. Probate Court of Ramsey County, 40 Minnesota, 296, 299, where, upon an application for the final settlement of his accounts by the administrator of an estate and for a final discharge, the probate court made an order allowing the account and discharging the administrator, such order was held by the Supreme Court to be a final order discharging the administration of the estate, and that, as a final decree discharging the administration, it operated to discharge the lien of creditors upon real estate which might have been previously sold to pay debts. The opinion of the court was thus expressed:

"The object of the application on the part of the acting administrator was to submit his final account and close the administration. The order made was evidently so intended, and must be

Opinion of the Court.

construed as a final order discharging the administration of the estate. The parties had their remedy by appeal, but the order could not be attacked collaterally or treated as void, so as to warrant subsequent proceedings to reach the real estate, as if the administration was still in progress and the estate still unsettled.

"The omission of the land from the inventory, and the subsequent discovery of the real estate of the deceased which was not reduced to assets by the administrator or distributed to the heirs, do not operate to revive the administration and open the judgment, or warrant further proceedings. The land descended to the heirs, subject to the claims of administration upon it. The effect of a decree assigning the real estate to the heirs is simply to discharge it from the administration, and, of course, the final discharge of the administration must discharge the lien of the creditors."

In Schmidt v. Stark, 61 Minnesota, 91, 92, it was held that where the estate of a deceased person has been fully administered, and a decree of distribution has been made, assigning the residue of the estate in the hands of the personal representative to the parties entitled thereto, the jurisdiction of the probate court is ended; and, if the personal representative does not deliver the property to the distributees, they may bring an action against him in the District Court. It was said, per Mitchell, J.:

"The probate code neither authorizes nor provides for an assignment of any part of the estate of a deceased person until after the estate is fully administered. It contemplates but one decree of distribution, by which the entire residue of the estate shall be assigned to those entitled to it, specifying the proportion or part to which each is entitled. Gen. Stats. 1894, secs. 4639– 4642. Read in the light of the statute and of the admissions of the answer, we think the complaint would fairly admit of being construed as alleging that all this had been duly done, and that the proportion of the estate assigned to plaintiff was an undivided fifth. If this was the state of facts, the jurisdiction of the probate court over the property had ended. The effect of a decree of distribution is to transfer the title to the personalty and the right of possession of the realty from the