Gottlieb v. MacLean
Gottlieb v. MacLean
070rehearing
It appearing that on the preparation of the record on appeal respondent served on appellant and filed with the clerk “a notice designating additional papers or records ... to be included in the record on appeal” (Rule 5(b)), the same consisting of the reporter’s transcript of testimony taken at the hearing in proceeding numbered 117096, and that the second section of the reporter’s transcript herein consisting of pages 1 to 95 inclusive was not necessary or proper in the presentation of this appeal,-—■
It is ordered that the judgment filed herein on May 16, 1952, be and it is amended as above printed.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied July 15, 1952. Schauer, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
Opinion of the Court
The minor is the son of respondent and his deceased wife. The parents had been divorced, with custody of the minor awarded to his mother.
From the time of respondent’s appointment (and before that) the minor was unfriendly toward him; his attitude challenged respondent’s authority as father and guardian. The minor was living in the household of appellant, who shared this attitude. The situation became so strained that in July, 1950, the father as guardian filed in this court a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain the custody of the minor. At the hearing on the writ on August 14, 1950, the minor appeared before us (without counsel) and it was apparent that he rebelled against living with his father or having anything to do with him. The father had remarried and was living in Oakland. It appeared also that the minor would reach the age of 14 on December 23, 1950, when of course he could name his own guardian. We dismissed the habeas corpus proceeding and things remained as they were for the ensuing four months.
On the minor’s 14th birthday he nominated appellant as guardian of his person and estate and three days later, on December 26, she filed in the Superior Court in San Francisco, where the guardianship was pending, a petition for letters of guardianship based on the nomination.
At the hearing the following month respondent, who was still guardian, opposed the approval of the nomination. The court denied appellant’s petition and this appeal was taken.
Section 1406 Probate Code provides that the nominee “must be appointed if approved by the court” and Guardianship of Kirkman, 168 Cal. 688, 690 [144 P. 745], holds that in such cases “The discretion of the court can be exercised only in the determination of the question whether the nominee is a ‘suitable person.’ ” That being so, the only question now presented is whether there was an abuse of discretion.
The court wrote an opinion wherein numerous reasons were given for its action, but it is not necessary to quote at any length from either the opinion or the findings.
We are satisfied that there are at least two grounds, regardless of any others there may be, upon which it must be held that this record shows no abuse of discretion.
In the memorandum opinion the court, in speaking of the earlier proceedings said: “It is fair to state that petitioner
That statement was based on the history of the proceedings pending before the same judge from April, 1950, to January, 1951. It was also unquestionably based in part on the following testimony which the appellant with the utmost frankness gave under cross-examination at the hearing:
“Mr. Devoto: Q. I am ^sking you, didn’t you repeatedly ignore and disregard the court order? A. Yes, on legal advice ...
“Q. You knew of the order appointing the father guardian pending the appeal? A. Yes.
“Q. And you did everything to ignore and disregard that order, didn’t you? Isn’t that correct? A. Yes-
“Mr. Golden: This is all calling for a conclusion, and argumentative.
“The Court: Well, it would go to the question of whether she prejudiced the mind of the boy or not, and I think this evidence is admissible on that subject . . .
“Mr. Devoto: Q. If you didn’t consider yourself beyond and above the law, why didn’t you obey those orders and turn the custody of the boy over to the father—answer that question. A. Because Peter didn’t want to go to his father. I was fighting for Peter.
‘ ‘ Q. That is your only reason ? A. That is the only reason.
“Q. You don’t think you should have given any more respect to a court order than that? A. No, sir. Peter was at stake, not the Court.”
On the same subject the court found: “That at all times herein mentioned said Lottie Gottlieb has contemptuously ignored the order of this court appointing said father such guardian, and has, without cause or justification, thrown every possible obstacle in the way to frustrate said father in obtaining the physical custody of said minor . . . that as a direct result thereof, said father was at all times deprived of the actual custody and possession of said minor.”
In the opinion the court also said: “In addition to the personal unfitness of petitioner to be appointed guardian of this minor, the court also considered that there is real estate involved in this proceeding which formerly stood in the name of the minor’s mother, and which now stands in the name of petitioner, Lottie Gottlieb. This property is the house in which the mother of the minor lived for many years, and in which it may be presumed the minor has a beneficial interest. Petitioner has stated in open court that this property belongs to her, and therefore has an interest adverse to the minor, who obviously could not be adequately represented by petitioner in litigation to assert his interest.”
And on the same subject the court found: “That said Lottie Gottlieb is interested in certain improved real property . . . adversely to the interest of said minor, which property said Lottie Gottlieb claims to have been deeded to her by said minor’s mother, a few days before, or on the day of, the death of said mother, the validity of which deed said father as such guardian questions and intends to have determined in appropriate legal proceedings.”
Appellant testified that the property was hers and had stood in her name, but that for a reason of her own she had put the title in the name of Mrs. MacLean. When Mrs. MacLean was on her deathbed appellant got her to deed the property back to her. During cross-examination appellant was told by respondent’s counsel that a suit was to be brought respecting this property, and in the briefs we are told that such suit has since been brought by the special administratrix of Mrs. MacLean’s estate. If the estate prevails obviously Peter as an heir of his mother will have a substantial interest in the property. Appellant’s assertion that the property is hers presents a clear-cut conflict of interests between appellant and the minor. We find no abuse
In the opinion filed by the court it is said: “It is . . . the opinion of this court that the best interest of the minor will be served by his remaining under the guardianship of his father ...” The formal order says nothing with respect to a continuance of the guardianship in the father, and indeed that question was not before the court. The only question was the approval or disapproval of the minor’s nominee. Under section 1406 as it now reads it would seem that on the denial of this approval the minor has the right to make another nomination which if made must again be submitted for judicial approval.
The order appealed from is affirmed. Further ordered that the costs incurred by appellant for the preparation of that part of the reporter’s transcript consisting of the second section be taxed against the respondent in his individual capacity and not as guardian.
Dooling, J., concurred.
Dissenting Opinion
I dissent upon the ground that neither the petitioner nor the minor was accorded a fair or impartial trial. The order appealed from was the result of religious intolerance and judicial indiscretion. The interests of the minor were not considered at any stage of the proceeding and are given no consideration in Justice Goodell’s opinion of affirmance.
In the year 1940 the minor’s mother was divorced from the father on the ground of the latter’s cruelty. Custody of the child, then about 4 years of age, was given to the mother and the father was ordered to pay $7.00 a week for his maintenance. Immediately upon the death of the mother the father stopped such payments and since that time, March 13, 1950, he has not paid anything whatever for the support, education or maintenance of his son except the sum of $150 for tuition in the St. Joseph’s School. All other expenses have been paid by the appellant herein.
Almost coincident with the divorce in 1940 the petitioner herein, who was the sister of the deceased and the aunt of the minor, provided a home for her invalid sister, the minor involved herein, and a daughter of the sister by a previous marriage. The mother had frequently expressed the desire that the son should be raised as a Catholic and had placed
The trial court assumed without reason that the petitioner had placed the minor in this Catholic school to “sequester” him from his father and to unjustly influence the court through religious pressure. That there was no justification for this assumption will appear later. This was the second hearing relating to the guardianship of the minor. On the previous hearing the father had been appointed guardian and the application of the aunt had been denied. The hearing had been conducted with great bitterness and because of that counsel for the petitioner in this proceeding urged the court to transfer the proceeding to another department where they could have a fair and impartial trial. The motion was denied. It should have been granted. The order under appeal was not made with any consideration for the welfare of the minor but it was sought and granted to enable the father to take the minor out of the Catholic school he was attending and to compel him to move to his father’s home in Oakland, there to attend the public schools. The persistence of the minor in his desire to continue his religious and clerical education followed by study for the priesthood angered the court and the father. These circumstances explain the otherwise inconceivable findings of facts which are not supported by any competent evidence.
It was found that “The present petitioner appealed from the order of this Court awarding letters of guardianship to the father. She also appealed from the order of this Court awarding custody of the minor to the father pending the determination of the first appeal. Both of these appeals, being wholly without merit, as petitioner at all times well knew, were voluntarily dismissed by her.” A cursory examination of the record on the former appeal (which however is not properly a part of this record) shows that the appeal was far from being “wholly without merit.” In fact it shows that there was very substantial merit in it. But the appeal was considered a reflection on the court for ■ which the appellant was denounced and penalized in this proceeding.
It was found that “In defiance of the order of this Court appointing the father as guardian, the petitioner herein then sequestered the minor in a seminary in Santa Clara County, that thus the father might be further frustrated in obtain
The reference to the proceeding in the appellate court is to a petition in habeas corpus brought by the father to gain
It was further found: “It is fair to state that petitioner has, without cause or justification, and by her own admission, thrown every possible obstacle in the way to prevent the father from obtaining the physical custody of the minor to which he is entitled.” This is really the meat of the controversy. It is the ground upon which my associates affirm the order. The point is that since the appellant and the minor resisted the efforts of the court to thwart the ambition of the minor to study for the priesthood both should be forced to knuckle down to the orders of the court without regard for the moral or temporal welfare of the minor. In a proceeding of this kind the interests of the minor are the real issue. Here the minor had voluntarily chosen to attend a Catholic seminary to study for the priesthood. It had been the wish of his mother. The father objected and wanted to take him out and put him in the public schools. The court approved the father’s action. The resentment against the minor’s choice of a religious education is inconceivable. However, the petitioner sided with the boy and told the court in explanation of her conduct that she was “fighting for Peter” that “Peter was at stake, not the Court.” Thereupon she lost her case. But as to the facts, both the petitioner and the minor testified on numerous occasions that the petitioner had frequently told the minor that he could go to his father whenever he desired to do so, that the refusal of the minor to do so was a matter of his own choosing and was caused by his religious and clerical education in the seminary at Mountain View. (Pending the appeal and because of this opposition, the boy has been forced to drop out of the institution.)
It was further found: “It is apparent that the minor herein is not of strong character for his age, and that petitioner has taken advantage of this moral weakness to poison his mind against his father, and to procure from him her own nomination. Under the circumstances it is evident that the minor
The court then referred to the “personal unfitness of the petitioner. ” It is not clear upon what this statement is based. The father did not appear in the proceeding. He was represented by counsel who made many statements of facts outside the record, but who was not sworn as a witness. The only evidence of personal fitness is that found in the testimony of the petitioner and of the minor. Certainly none of that testimony showed personal unfitness. To the contrary the evidence is that for more than 18 years the petitioner has been conducting her own business in which she has had a good reputation and which has yielded her approximately $400 a month; that she acquired a home into which she moved her divorced sister and the two children and where she supported them for approximately 12 years. At the time of the hearing she was paying the minor’s tuition in the academy, all expenses of his board, lodging, clothes, medical and dental bills, and provided a home during the vacation period. The father was paying nothing.
This court has put up a straw man in relation to the litigation over the home property which appellant had purchased and deeded to her sister after the divorce. Such litigation would be under the control of the administrator of the sister’s estate. The guardian of the minor could do nothing, at least without the sanction of the court.
The foregoing statement of facts presents the legal question involved in the appeal—the power of the court to arbitrarily reject a guardian nominated by a minor of the age of 14 years when such action may wreck the whole life of the minor. In a proceeding of this kind the minor is the real party in interest though his nominee is the nominal petitioner. The real issue, therefore, is the moral and temporal welfare of the minor. This is made clear by the words of the statute. Here the welfare of the minor was not given the slightest consideration by the lower court, nor by the majority of this court. The right of the minor is statutory. Section 1406 of the Probate Code provides: “In appointing a general guardian of a minor, the court is to be guided by what appears to be for the best
The applicable rule is clearly and succinctly stated in Collins v. Superior Court, supra, pp. 580, 581: “He [the minor] is fourteen years of age, and has the absolute right to select and nominate his guardian, who, if approved by the court, must be appointed. (Code Civil Proc., sec. 1748; Guardianship of Kirkman, 168 Cal. 688 [144 P. 745] ; Guardianship of Meiklejohn, 171 Cal. 247 [152 P. 734] ; Guardianship of McSwain, 176 Cal. 287 [168 P. 117].) These cases are also authority for holding that a minor, upon arriving at the age of fourteen years, may nominate and displace a guardian already appointed, and that, even though the displaced guardian may be one of his parents. ‘The whole scheme, ’ says the court, in discussing the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to the appointment of guardians, ‘contemplates the absolute right of the minor to have a guardian of his own selection after he is fourteen years of age, provided always, he selects a person who is, in the judgment of the court, a suitable person to act as his guardian. The discretion of the court can be exercised only in the deter
“To uphold the contention of the respondent would be to deny the minor the exercise of this absolute right. ’ ’
There is evidence that the mother of the minor left an insurance policy of which the minor is a beneficiary in the sum of about $1,000. At a subsequent hearing the trial court, with threats of contempt and immediate imprisonment, forced appellant to turn the policy over to counsel for respondent though it was the expressed wish of the mother that it be allowed to accumulate and be used for the minor’s education. We are told in one of the briefs that pending the appeal the proceeds of the policy have been collected by respondent and it is a natural assumption that they will be consumed by guardianship and counsel fees as that appears to be the only interest the father has in his son. The proceeds of the policy should be preserved for the benefit of the minor. Hence the costs herein should be charged to the respondent individually and should not -be taxed to the guardianship estate. Furthermore, in all fairness to the minor and to the appellant herein the proceedings should be transferred to another department of the superior court.
Another matter calls for attention. A petition for letters accompanied by the minor’s written consent and nomination was filed by the maternal aunt of the minor. No pleadings were filed by the father but his attorney appeared in opposition to the petition. A hearing was conducted with the aunt and minor as the sole witnesses. No other testimony or evidence was offered. Following the adverse judgment the petitioner appealed and notified the clerk to prepare a transcript under rule 5(a), Rules on Appeal. Thereafter counsel for the father, purporting to act under rule 5(b), requested the clerk to include in the transcript the reporter’s transcript of testimony at a hearing on the father’s petition for letters had on April 3, 1950. This transcript was not introduced in evidence in the present hearing and is not a proper part of the transcript on appeal herein. Rule 5(b) of the Rules on Appeal authorizes the respondent to request the clerk to include in the transcript “additional papers or records, including the clerk’s minutes, any written opinion of the superior court, and exhibits either admitted in evidence or rejected. ...” The clear purpose of this rule is to permit the respondent to procure the inclusion in the clerk’s transcript of papers, records and exhibits which were offered in
The order should be reversed with directions to grant the petition as prayed.
A petition for a rehearing was denied June 14, 1952, and the following opinion was filed:
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.