Anderson v. Northrop (44 Fla. 472, 1902)

Per Curiam.

This cause being reached i,n its regular order for final adjudication, was referred by the court to its commissioners for investigation, who report that the 'decrees appealed from ought to be reversed.

Upon a former appeal in this cause (Anderson v. Northrop, 30 Fla. 612, 12 South. Rep. 318) it was decided,, among other things^ that the complanants and the defendants Crafts named in the bill of complaint were entitled to a decree for their respectiye shares and interests according to the provisions- of the will of Andrew Anderson, iSr., in and' to all of the real estate included in the deed from William A. Forward to Clarissa O. Anderson that was found in her possession and the title to which was standing in her name at the time of her decease, and in and to all of the lands mortgaged to her as executrix by Peter Sken Smith and which she bought at tax sale, the title to which remained in her at her decease; that defendant Andrew Anderson as her executor should account to them for them proportionate parts of the rents, incomes and profits of all such real estate as remained in her name from the date of her idteoease, with the legal accumulation of interest thereon since that date; that the cause should be referred to a master to ascertain and report what portions of said real estate that was conveyed to Clarissa C. Anderson by William A. Forward, and by said tax deed of the Peter Sken Smith lands, have been sold and conveyed by her to other parties and the prices at which she sold the same, with interest thereon from the date of her decease, and that defendant Andrew Anderson as her executor should account to complainants and the defendants Crafts for their respective shares and proportionate parts thereof according to the provisions of the will of Andrew Anderson, Sr. The Circuit Court in pursuance of the decision of this court referred the cause to a master to take andl state an account as indicated in the -opinion filed by this court, and the master having heard the testimony produced by the parties, filed his report in 1894. All parties having-filed exceptions to this report, the court referred! the cause to the master a second time requiring him to take and state the account according to certain specific directions therein given. On June 9, 1896, the master, after having taken more testimony, filed his second report which was excepted to in various particulars by the respective parties. The court overruled all exceptions and on October 9, 1897, entered a decree which, after reciting that it appeared by the record! that Andrew Anderson had acquired by conveyance and assignment to him1 all the interest of the defendants Crafts and their trustee thereby concentrating 'in him (including his own interest as a devisee) a five-eights interest in the estate -of Andrew Anderson, Sr., and that complainants owned the remaining three-eights interest in said estate, decreed to complainants $3,164.22 with interest from June 9, 1896, against Andrew Anderson executor, to be made out of the goods and chattels of ■Clarissa C. Anderson, deceased, as their three,-eigtlis interest in the proceeds of the -sales of the Forward and Smith lands- received by Clarissa C. Anderson in- her lifetime, with interest calculated thereon with annual rests from the time of her death, and also decreed to- complain ants $12,214.72 with interest from, June 9, 1896, against Andrew Anderson ¡individually as their thi*eeeights interest in the net rents, incomes and profits of the land known as the Markland cottage tract and Ponce de Leon gardens, with simple interest thereon. From this decree both parties have appealed, and have assigned as error divers matters relating to the second decree of reference and the final decree, and many errors alleged to have been committed by the master in his allowance and refusal to allow various items upon the accounting had before him embraced in '¡exceptions to his report. We shall confine our decision to the matters insisted’upon in the briefs andl oral arguments.

I. It ¡is insisted by defendant, first, that no interest should have been allowed either upon the ¡sums received by Clarissa C. Anderson in her lifetime from sales of the Forward and Smith lands, or upon the rents, incomes and profits received by defendant from those portions of said lands remaining unsold at the time of her death; and second, that ¡if interest is to he allowed at all it was error to compute it with annual rests upon the-sums received by Clarissa 0. Anderson from sales of lands. On the other hand, it is ¡insisted by complainants that interest with annual rests was properly allowed upon the sums received by Clarissa C. An¡d