(a) At the expiration of two hundred and ten days from the date of the inventory and appraisement, or sooner if, and as often as the assignee is in the possession of sufficient funds, the court shall order a distribution of all moneys in the assignee's hands, fixing the amount in dollars and cents to be paid to each person entitled thereto, and thereupon the assignee and his sureties shall become liable to such person therefor absolutely. The court may also enforce obedience to such order by the assignee by attachment for contempt, and may commit him to jail, or any suitable place of confinement and safekeeping until he shall comply therewith.
(b) When all the estate has been converted into money, and all the contested claims have been finally determined and the result thereof certified to the court as provided in section 1219 of this title, the court shall make a final order of distribution, which shall be immediately obeyed. Such final order shall have the same effect and may be enforced in like manner as the order mentioned in subsection (a) of this section.