INVENT O RY. A list, schedule, or enu meration in writing, containing, article by article, the goods and chattels, rights and credits, and, in some cases, the land and tenements, of a person or persons. A con servatory act, which is made to ascertain the situation of an intestate's estate, the es tate or an insolvent, and the like, for the purpose of securing it to those entitled to it.
When the inventory is made of goods and estates assigned or conveyed in trust, it must include all the property conveyed. It is prima facie evidence of the value as against the administrator; In re Childs, 5 Misc. 560, 26 Y. Supp. 721; In re Mullon, 74 Hun 358, 26 N. Y. Supp. 683.
In case of intestate estates, it is required to contain only the personal property, or that to which the administrator is entitled. The claims due to the estate ought to be sep arated; those which are desperate or bad ought to be so returned. The articles ought to be set down separately, as already men tioned, and separately valued. It is not the duty of an administrator to inventory prop erty which was conveyed by his intestate in fraud of creditors; Gardner v. Gardner,
17 R. I. 751, 24 Atl. 785. The duty of hav ing an appraisal and inventory made of a testator's estate, rests on the executor and not on the adult legatees; In re Curry's Will, 19 N. Y. Supp. 728. An item inserted in the inventory by mistake may be stricken out after it is sworn to ; In re Payne, 78 Hun 292, 28 N. Y. Supp. 911.
The inventory is to be made in the pres ence of at least two of the creditors of the deceased, or legatees, or next of kin, or of two honest persons. The appraisers must Sign it, and make, oath or affirmation that the appraisement is just to the best of their knowledge. See, generally, 14 Vin. Abr. 465; Bac. Abr. Executors, etc. (E 11) ; Ayl. Par. 305; Corn. Dig. Administration (B 7); 2 Add. Eccl. 319; Shoul. Ex. & Ad. 230; 2 Bla. Coro. 514; Coro. v. Bryan, 8 S. & R. (Pa.) 128.