93-13-77 - Final account and settlement.
§ 93-13-77. Final account and settlement.
When the guardianship shall cease in any manner, the guardian shall make a final settlement of his guardianship, by making out and presenting to the court, under oath, his final account, which shall contain a distinct statement of all the balances of his annual accounts, either as debits or credits, and also all other charges, expenditures, and amounts received, and not contained in any previous annual account. And the final account shall remain on file for the inspection of the ward, and summons for him shall be issued, which shall notify him to appear on a day not less than one month after service thereof or completion of its publication, and show cause why the final account of the guardian should not be allowed and approved. In the event that the account shall be presented by a bank or trust company which is subject to the supervision of the department of bank supervision of the State of Mississippi or of the comptroller of the currency of the United States and such account, or the petition for the approval of same, shall contain a statement under oath by an officer of said bank or trust company showing that the vouchers covering the disbursements in the account presented are on file with the said bank or trust company, such bank or trust company shall not be required to file vouchers. Provided, however, that said bank or trust company shall produce said vouchers for inspection of any interested party or his or her attorney at any time during legal banking hours at the office of said bank or trust company, and provided, further, that the court on its own motion, or on the motion of any interested party, may require that said vouchers be produced and inspected at the time of hearing of any objections that may be filed to any final account. And the court shall examine the final account, and hear the evidence for and against it; and if the court be satisfied, after examination, that the account is just and true, shall make a final decree of approval, or may allow only so much of the account as is right; and in the decree it shall make an allowance to the guardian for his trouble, not exceeding ten per centum (10%) on the value of the estate; and shall also decree that the property of the ward shall be delivered to him, if not already delivered, and that the guardian be discharged. And in like manner, and under like restrictions, it shall be made the duty of an executor or administrator of a deceased guardian to make final settlement of their testator's or intestate's guardianship accounts in the chancery court in which the same may be pending; but any ward arriving at the age of twenty-one (21) years may petition the chancery court in which the guardianship is pending to waive the final settlement required by this section and discharge the guardian and his sureties, which petition shall be verified by oath, and the court shall grant the same unless there be reason to suspect that the petition was procured by the guardian through fraud or undue influence over the ward, in which case the court shall require proof of the good faith thereof.
Sources: Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 36, art. 1(135); 1857, ch. 60, art. 148; 1871, § 1218; 1880, § 2107; 1892, § 2225; 1906, § 2444; Hemingway's 1917, § 2005; 1930, § 1893; 1942, § 429; Laws, 1898, ch. 63; Laws, 1960, ch. 217, § 3.