such distribution the estate shall come to two or more persons, partition thereof may be made between them, in like manner as if it were real estate which the deceased held in his lifetime.
When there is deficiency of assets.Sect. 16. When there shall be a deficiency of assets in the hands of an executor or administrator, and when the deceased shall, in his lifetime, have conveyed any real estate, or any right or interest therein, with the intent to defraud bis creditors, or to avoid any right, debt, or duty of any person, or shall have so conveyed such estate that by law the deeds or conveyances are void as against creditors, the executor or administrator may, and it shall be his duty to commence and prosecute to final judgment, any proper action or suit, at law, or in chancery, for the recovery of the same, and may recover for the benefit of the creditors, all such real estate so fraudulently conveyed; and may also, for the benefit of the creditors, sue and recover for all goods, chattels, rights, or credits which may have been so fraudulently conveyed [by] the deceased in his lifetime, whatever may have been the manner of such fraudulent conveyance.
Not bound to sue for estates, unless urged by creditors, and unless they give security.Sect. 17. No executor or administrator shall be bound to sue for such estates, as mentioned in the preceding section, unless on application of creditors of the deceased, nor unless the creditors making the application shall pay such part of the costs and expenses, or give such security to the executor or administrator therefor, as the probate court shall judge just and equitable.
All real estate recovered to be sold for payment of debts.Sect. 18. All real estate so recovered, as provided in the sixteenth section of this act, shall be sold for the payment of debts in the same manner as if the deceased had died seized thereof, upon obtaining a license therefor from the probate court, and the proceeds of all goods, chattels, rights, and credits, recovered as aforesaid, shall be appropriated in payment of the debts of the deceased, in the same manner as other assets in the hands of the executor or administrator.
Property exempted.Sect. 19. All property, real and personal, goods and chattels, rights and credits, interests and estates, exempt by law from seizure and sale under execution; and all property, real and personal, reserved by law to widows and minor children, be and the same is exempt as provided by law, any thing in this act to the reverse notwithstanding.
