If the party be deceased, the personal representative, or in case such representative refuses or fails to do so, any heir of the deceased, or other person, who is entitled to any part of the estate, either by will or by law, and who is or becomes a party to the suit, may make the denial under oath “according to the best of my personal knowledge, information and belief.”
Code 1858, § 3778 (deriv. Acts 1819, ch. 42, § 1); Acts 1905, ch. 73; Shan., § 5557; mod. Code 1932, § 9727; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 24-508.
Textbooks. Gibson's Suits in Chancery (7th ed., Inman), § 166.
Pritchard on Wills and Administration of Estates (4th ed., Phillips and Robinson), § 742.