Describing exempt per requisite in an ordinary deed of conveyance thereof, and real estate claimed to be exempt shall be expressly excepted by like description. SEC. 4. Personal property claimed to be exempt sonal property shall be separately specified and described as such in the inventory of the assignor or assignors hereinafter required to be made. Sheriff to be assignee. Manner of assignment. 10 Neb., 514. SEC. 5. In every such assignment the sheriff and his successor in office of the county in which the assignor resides, or if there be two assignors, in which one of them resides, or if there be more than two assignors, in which two or more of them reside, shall be named as assignee. SEC. 6. Such assignment shall be in writing, and shall be executed and acknowledged in the manner in which a conveyance of real estate is or shall be required to be executed and acknowledged in order to entitle the same to be recorded. And within twenty-four hours after its execution it shall be filed for record in the clerk's office of the county in which the assignee resides. If it shall convey real estate it shall be recorded in the deed record and entered upon the numerical index in said office, otherwise it shall be recorded in the miscellaneous record. Within thirty days after its execution it shall be filed for record in every other county in this state in which there shall be situate real property conveyed therein, and such assignment shall be recorded in each such county in the manner aforesaid. A failure to file such assignment for record within the time aforesaid in any county in which by the terms of this section it is required to be recorded, shall avoid such assignment as to property situate in such county; and if a failure so to file shall be due to the negligence or misconduct of any assignee appointed under the provisions of this act, such assignee shall be liable to the creditors for the value of all property as to which such assignment shall be so avoided and may be required to account for the same in all respects as in case of other assigned property, or by any other appropriate remedy. sheriff. SEC. 7. Immediately upon the execution and deliv- Duties of ery of any such assignment, the sheriff shall take possession of all the assigned estate, and preserve, insure, and safely keep the same for administration according to law, and. the sheriff and his sureties shall be liable, upon his official bond, for the faithful execution of the trust created by such assignment, for the preservation of such assigned estate, and for the accounting for and paying over of all moneys derived therefrom. He shall, under order of the county judge, inspect the assigned estate, and take all necessary steps to sell or properly dispose of any and all perishable goods or property of said estate. required. SEC. 8. Within ten days after such assignment is Inventory made the assignor or assignors executing the same shall make and file in the county judge's office of the county in which the assignee named therein resides, to be recorded in a book to be provided for that purpose, an inventory verified by the affidavit of the person or persons making the same, that the same is in all respects full, true and accurate according to the best of their knowledge and belief, and showing: First. First. All the creditors of the assignor or assignors. Second. The place of residence of each creditor, if known to the assignor or assignors, and if not known, that fact must be stated. Third. The sum owing to each creditor and the nature of each debt or liability, whether arising on written security, account, or otherwise. Fourth. The true consideration of the liability in each case, and when and the place where it arose, and whether there Duties of county judge. Notice to creditors. Creditors may choose assignee. has been any renewal or new promise in relation thereto. Fifth. Every existing mortgage, judgment, or other security for the payment of any debt or liability of the assignor or assignors. Sixth. All property of the assignor or assignors at the date of the assignment which is exempt by law from execution. Seventh. All of the assignor's property at the date of the assignment, both real and personal, of every kind, and wherever situated, not so exempt, and the encumbrances existing thereon, and all vouchers and securities relating thereto, and the value of such property in detail according to the best of the assignor's knowledge. SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the county judge, immediately upon the receipt of such inventory, to fix a day, not more than fifteen days thereafter, for a meeting of the creditors of such assignor or assignors at his office for the purpose of choosing an assignee to succeed the sheriff in such trust, and he shall immediately make advertisement of the time and place of such meeting by publication in some newspaper published or of general circulation in such county, and also shall, within two days after the first publication thereof, send a copy of such notice to each creditor mentioned in said inventory, addressed to his place of residence therein named, with postage prepaid. No informality or neglect with reference to such notice shall invalidate any action taken pursuant thereto or to such order. The certificate of the county judge that he has given such notice shall be sufficient evidence thereof. SEC. 10.. At the time and place fixed in such order, the creditors, or so many of them as shall be present in person or by proxy, may proceed by ballot to choose an assignee to succeed the sheriff, and the sheriff shall be eligible. At such election each creditor shall be entitled to cast one vote, but no person shall be regarded as chosen unless he shall receive the votes of creditors representing a majority of the gross indebtedness, and shall also have been voted for by one-third of all the creditors; nor shall any creditor be permitted to vote upon any claim against the assignor or assignors unless the same shall be verified by the affidavit of the creditor to be just and reasonable and wholly unpaid to the extent claimed, setting forth the true consideration thereof and that the same is not, to the best of said affiant's knowledge and belief, subject to any legal or equitable recoupment, counterclaim or set off, which, if allowed, would reduce the debt below the amount claimed. creditors to SEC. 11. Such meeting of the creditors may be ad- Failure of journed from day to day not exceeding three days, and select. should there be a failure to choose an assignee as provided in the preceding section, the sheriff and his successor or successors in office respectively shall remain the assignee of the estate, assignee. SEC. 12. Immediately upon the adjournment of such Duty of meeting the sheriff and the assignee, if any chosen 9 Neb., 353. thereat, shall proceed to make and return to the county court an inventory and appraisement of the entire estate assigned in the manner provided by law for the appraisal of property taken on attachment issued out of the district court. bond. SEC. 13. Within forty-eight hours after such inven- Assignee's tory shall be returned and filed, the assignee shall enter 9 Neb., 10; 43, into an undertaking in double the amount of the appraised value of the whole estate, with two or more sureties to the satisfaction and approval of the county judge conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties as such assignee. If the assignee fail to give the undertaking within the time aforesaid his election shall become null, and the estate shall be administered as though no election had been had. Recording bond. Sheriff to deliver property. Claims against Trial of claims. SEC. 14. The bond of the assignee shall be recorded in the office of the county clerk, and the record thereof shall have the same force as the record of other official bonds. SEC. 15. Immediately on the execution and approval of such bond the sheriff shall deliver all the personal property belonging to such estate to such assignee and shall execute and deliver to such assignee, as such, a deed of quit claim of all real estate conveyed by such assignment. SEC. 16. Upon the day of the meeting of the creditors the county judge shall fix a day, not more than sixty nor less than thirty days thereafter, within which all claims against the assigned estate shall be filed, and within which the assignee or assignor or any creditor may file any objection, defense, set off, or counter claim to any claim which the assignor might or could have opposed to the same had action been brought upon the same before assignment. Notice of the time so fixed shall be given in the manner herein before provided for notice of the first meeting of the creditors. Any claim, objection, defense, set off, or counter claim not filed on or before the date so named shall be forever barred from being considered in the settlement of said estate or participating in any dividend therein. SEC. 17. On the day following the day fixed under the provisions of the preceding section all uncontested claims shall by the county judge be allowed and entered of record, with the amounts thereof, in a book to be provided and kept for that purpose. Upon all contested claims the county judge shall order pleadings, as nearly as practicable like those in ordinary civil actions in said court, to be summarily made up, and thereupon said cause shall proceed in said court as in ordinary civil actions therein, but no such cause shall |