Day v. Hart - Jurisdiction in the County of Death - Crucial Mississippi Supreme Court Decisions

In Day v. Hart, 232 Miss. 516, 517, 99 So.2d 656, 657 (1958), the Mississippi Supreme Court addressed whether the Lincoln County Chancery Court had jurisdiction to grant administration under the "county where the intestate died" pursuant to Section 525 of the Code of 1942. Miss. Code Ann § 91-7-63(1) is derived from Section 525 of the Code of 1942.  Day, a Louisiana resident, and Hall, a Mississippi resident, were killed in a traffic collision caused by Day in Lincoln County. Id. at 657. Hart's family petitioned the Lincoln County Chancery Court seeking the appointment of an administrator for the Estate of Day in order to bring suit in Mississippi based on his Mississippi insurance policy. Id. at 658. The Supreme Court held that the Lincoln County Chancery Court had jurisdiction to grant administration on the estate of Day. Id. at 660. The Mississippi Supreme Court held:

Under said Section 525 of the Code of 1942 jurisdiction to grant administration is conferred upon the chancery court of the county in which the decedent died. The statute is clear and unambiguous and must be construed to mean what it says. A similar statute is not unknown to other jurisdictions.

Id. at 660. (Emphasis in the original). "Section 91-7-63(1) authorizes three possible places to open an estate, those being (1) the chancery court of the county where the intestate had a fixed place of residence at the time of death; (2) if there was no fixed place of residence, then the chancery court of the county where (a) the intestate died, or (b) where his personal property or some part may be."  Nat'l Heritage Realty, Inc. v. Estate of Boles, 947 So. 2d 238, 248-249 (Miss. 2006) (citing favorably Day v. Hart).