The defendant, T. B. Sumner, in the general County Court of Buncombe County, N. 0., duly demurred to the complaint. The demurrer was sustained. The plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court and the demurrer of the general County Court was affirmed; an appeal was taken to this Court. In the judgment of the courts below we find no error.
The main question involved in this appeal is whether the assumption of the debt owed by Frank Coxe to the plaintiff, Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, by C. N. Penland, administrator of the estate of Anna K. Buckner, fixed a lien upon the other property conveyed by said Ooxe to said administrator for payment of that debt, viz., the lots in controversy, 57 and 58, same being conveyed by said administrator to two of the heirs at law who in turn conveyed said lots to defendant, T. B. Sumner? We think not.
C. S., 76, is as follows: “All conveyances of real property of any decedent made by any devisee or heir at law, within two years from the grant of letters, shall be void as to the creditors, executors, administrators and collectors of such decedent; but such conveyances to bona fide purchasers for value and without notice, if made after two years *81from the grant of letters, shall be valid even as against creditors.” Bank v. Felton, 188 N. C., 384; S. v. McCanless, 193 N. C., 200; Bank v. Zollicoffer, 199 N. C., 620.
In Davis v. Perry, 96 N. C., at p. 263, we find: “They are only void in case as to creditors and personal representatives, and as to them, only in case the personal assets are insufficient to pay the debts and costs of administration; they are not void — they never cease to operate as to the parties to them.” Bank v. Zollicoffer, supra.
In N. C. Practice and Procedure, ch. 1, sec. 72, at p. 70, Mr. McIntosh says: “Since the clerk has only such jurisdiction as may be given by statute, in the absence of express statutory provision he cannot exercise any general equity jurisdiction.” In re Estate of Wright, 200 N. C., 620.
In a careful review of O. S., ch. 1, Administration, and Amendment Public Laws N. O., 1927, ch. 222, we find no authority for an exchange, approved by the clerk, permitting an administrator to assume a debt as was done in this case to plaintiff. The clerk’s jurisdiction is statutory, he cannot go beyond express or implied authority given him.
In Snipes v. Monds, 190 N. C., at p. 191: “An executor cannot, by any contract of his, fasten upon the estate of his testator liability created by him, and arising wholly out of matters occurring after the death of the testator.” Hall v. Trust Co., 200 N. C., at p. 739.
For the reasons given, the judgment below is
Affirmed.