UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

Where a resident citizen of Georgia has been duly adjudicated a bankrupt and dies after such adjudication and after the appointment, qualification, and partial administration of the trustee, the estate vested in the trustee under § 70 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 is chargeable under § 8 of that law with the allowance for a year's support of the widow and minor children as provided by § 4041 of the Georgia Code.

The Bankruptcy Act of 1898 makes no exception to the rule that, after proceedings have been commenced, they are not to be abated by death of the bankrupt, and, under the proviso in § 8, the right of the widow and children in case of such death to an allowance out of what remains in the hands of the trustee is as broad as the prohibition against abatement.

What the court may do pending the life of the bankrupt is binding on the bankrupt, and, as to such property as has been distributed prior to his death, the right of the widow and children to charge it with support under a state statute is defeated. Such allowance can only be made out of property remaining in the hands of the trustee on an order duly made in proceedings in which he, as representative of the creditors, has a right to be heard.

The facts, which involve the construction of §§ 8 and 70 of the Bankruptcy Law of 1898 and § 4041 of the Georgia Code in regard to the allowance to be made for a year's support of the widow and children of a bankrupt dying during administration of the estate, are stated in the opinion. clubjuris

Page 235 U. S. 585