Wells v. Craig-Fritterer Co.
Wells v. Craig-Fritterer Co.
Opinion of the Court
On March 19, 1928, a final decree was entered settling the guardian’s final account, and the guardian has appealed therefrom, questioning certain provisions of the decree which will be pointed out as we proceed.
George F. King died in 1907, leaving a widow and a minor son, George King, then about two years of age. The widow apparently acted as administratrix, and the probate was closed and the estate distributed in equal shares to the widow and son in 1909.
The guardian also claimed thirty dollars per month for the support of the minor for three years and ten months, covering the period from the final settlement of the father’s estate to the time she was appointed guardian, or a total of- one thousand three hundred eighty dollars. By her testimony at the hearing, and now, she seeks that allowance, not as a direct claim, but argues that the ward’s estate was reduced by the expenditure of that amount before her appointment and there is that much less for which she should account.
The decree, after charging the guardian with rent amounting to four hundred fifty dollars, as above indicated, allowed the item of one thousand three hundred eighty dollars as between the guardian and the ward only, because the ward did not appear and object and, perhaps, also because the ward had other property, the proceeds of the disposition of the land sold by him, which might be subjected to the payment of this item. But the question of whether such allowance was in effect a personal judgment against the ward or can form the basis for reaching other property, is not now here. The balance thus found due the guardian amounted to $1,049.57, or in other words, without this item, the guardian was actually indebted to the ward’s estate, but the decree specifically provides that such balance, with attorney’s fees as allowed, and costs, all amounting to less than $1380, shall not in any wise affect the rights of the purchaser of the land.
The first question is one of fact only. There was evidence that the two six months’ periods of occupancy covered the crop year in each case. It was brought out that, after the period of occupancy, there was, or might have been, some fall pasturage available, but no one attempted to fix a value therefor. The trial court, sitting in the county where the land lies, may have taken into consideration matters of common knowledge, of which judicial notice should be taken,
As to the second question, we are not concerned with the allowance of the maintenance charge as against the ward, since he has not appealed, and if what we shall say may indicate a doubt as to whether that item should have been allowed at all, it will not affect the judgment as to him or determine its nature or value, for that, whatever its force, has become final.
Undoubtedly advances and disbursements made by a guardian to preserve and protect the estate of the ward may be presented in the final account and allowed as a lien or charge against the property so preserved and protected, since such advances in all respects partake of the nature of equitable liens. A guardian is, of course, but a trustee, and the general rule applicable to all trustees is stated by Pomeroy in his Equity Jurisprudence (4th ed.), vol. 3, §1085, as follows:
“The trustee is entitled to be allowed, as against the estate and the beneficiary, for all his proper expenses out'of pocket, which include all payments expressly authorÍ2¡ed by the instrument of trust, all reasonable expenses in carrying out the directions of the trust, and, in the absence of any such directions, all expenses reasonably necessary for the security, protection, and preservation of the trust property, or for the prevention of a failure of the trust. He is also entitled to be indemnified in respect to all personal liabilities incurred by himself for any of these purposes. "Where a trustee properly advances money for any of the above-mentioned objects, so that he is entitled to reimbursement, he also has a lien as security for the claim, either upon the corpus of the trust property, or upon the income, as the ease may be; but for moneys improperly paid there is no lien.”
As a general rule we think it may be said that a guardian may expend the income of the ward’s estate
“One of the most usual purposes for which lands of a minor may be ordered to be sold, when necessary, is his support, maintenance, and education, and this will ordinarily be done when, and only when, the income of the estate, and the corpus of the personal estate, is insufficient therefor, and only while the ward is living. But where the guardian is also the parent of the infant ward, he will not be permitted to sell the ward’s real estate for such purpose, unless it is clearly shown that he is unable to support and educate him.” 28 C. J., 1173.
“The right of the guardian to charge for support or education provided for the ward is sometimes modified by his sustaining a parental or quasi-parental relation to the ward. If he be the ward’s father, the duty of furnishing support rests upon him, and he cannot charge the cost of such support on the guardianship account. The rule is not so rigorous in the case of the mother; and if the child has property the mother is not bound to provide for its maintenance where the father would be, but is entitled to have his income applied thereto. Arid a stepfather is of course not bound to maintain the children of his wife by a former husband. But if he voluntarily assume the parental relation and receive them into his family under circumstances such as to raise a presumption that he has undertaken to support them gratuitously, he cannot afterward claim compensation for their support. So with the mother, or with any other relation or friend who takes the ward into his home and assumes a parental relation to him; if he supports him without intimating any intention of charging him for the support, the inference is that it was furnished gratuitously; and the guardian cannot afterward charge therefor.” 12 R. G. L., 1158.
The ingenious argument that this item depleted the ward’s estate before the guardian was appointed, presented to excuse nonpresentation of the claim and to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations, cannot now avail, because nothing of the ward’s estate had been consumed when the guardian was appointed, save only the income which had theretofore accrued, and the wrongful or unauthorized use of that prior income cannot now form the basis for a charge or encumbrance against the corpus of the estate.
The judgment is affirmed.
Parker, Main, Millard, and Holcomb, JJ., concur.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting) — It appears that appellant, the mother and guardian, after the distribution of her first husband’s estate, for a period of three years and nine months, acted as natural guardian of her child and collected and disbursed the income from the property which had been distributed jointly to her and her son from the estate of her husband. At the end of this period of three years and nine months, she was appointed guardian, and when, in 1924, she filed her first account, she charged herself with the income she
The $1,380 in question was not appellant’s money, but her child’s money, which she. had collected and disbursed prior to her appointment as legal guardian; This was not money which came into her possession as guardian, but money which she had collected and spent before her appointment, and she need not have charged herself with this amount in her guardianship account. It was, however, the better practice for her to explain the matter to the court and present the situation fully, which she did. Her offset against this charge, which she presented against herself, was not properly a claim against her child’s estate, but was simply an explanation of , the absence of so much money from her guardianship account. The trial court seems to have been of the opinion that this item constituted a stale claim against the minor, but it seems to me that this entirely misconceives the actual situation and that the judgment of the trial court, affirmed by a majority of this court, allowing the claim against the ward, but not against his real estate, results in a great injustice to appellant.
The record shows that, in 1924, appellant filed her first account as guardian. In this account, she recites
The matter came on finally to be heard upon the amended final account of the guardian, dated September 19, 1927, and the exceptions thereto filed by respondent. In paragraph 3 of this amended final ac
Upon the hearing upon this amended final account and respondent’s exceptions thereto, the trial court, as stated in the majority opinion, charged back against the guardian $450 for rental of the ward’s property, which the trial court held the guardian should account for, and then continues:
“As to the item of thirteen hundred and eighty dollars ($1380) with which the guardian has credited herself for support and maintenance of her son from January 11, 1909, to November 7, 1912, three years and ten months prior to her appointment as guardian, the court finds that no claim was ever presented or filed for said amount until 1924, but inasmuch as the*129 ward has made no appearance and filed no objections said amonnt should be allowed, but only, as between said guardian and said ward.
“That except as to the items mentioned in paragraphs two and three in the amended final account of the guardian, said account should be, so far as said guardian and her ward are concerned, allowed and approved, together with an attorney’s fee in the sum of two hundred dollars ($200) as compensation for her attorneys in this proceeding, together with the publication fees in connection with the settlement of said final account.”
The trial court thereafter approved the account as between the guardian and her son, but held that the real estate, formerly the property of the son, was free and clear in the hands of respondent from any liability to appellant or charge in her favor.
"While it is doubtless true that a presumption exists that a parent will support his or her minor child, an examination of the record now before us satisfies me that, under the circumstances of this case, the court properly allowed appellant $30 a month out of the minor’s estate for his support and maintenance. In any event, the court twice made this allowance, and any question as to the propriety of an allowance and the reasonableness of the amount allowed is now foreclosed.
Certainly no logical reason exists for holding, as did the trial court, that appellant was entitled to an allowance from the date she was appointed guardian, but as to the preguardianship period must account to the minor’s estate for all of his money which she collected and receive no credit for so much thereof as she expended for his support and maintenance. As I construe the record, the lower court had before it merely appellant’s proceedings as guardian, which commenced, as appellant shows, with a balance of cash in her hands belonging to her son. in the sum of $257.44.
The last paragraph of the majority opinion indicates that this court holds that appellant is now seeking to establish a claim or charge against her ward’s estate by reason of the fact that she expended some of the ward’s money prior to her appointment as his guardian on account of his support and maintenance. In my opinion, the theory in regard to this matter entertained by the trial court and by the majority of this court is erroneous, as it seems to assume that appellant has, in some way, attempted to establish a claim, charge or encumbrance against her son’s estate, based upon money which she expended for him prior to her appointment as his guardian. Such is not the case. Her statement of the preguardianship period shows that, when she was appointed guardian, after paying taxes, interest and $30 a month for the support of her ward, she still had a balance in her possession belonging to her son in the amount of $257.44. In the guardianship accounts, appellant should either not be charged with the money belonging to her ward which she received prior to her appointment as guardian, or she should be given whatever credit she showed she was entitled to by way of expenditures for her
The court was perfectly right in allowing respondent, upon its exceptions, to question the verity of appellant’s account and to object to any items claimed by appellant, but respondent stands at best in the place of the ward, and has no greater rights or equities. It is perfectly evident that there was ample data of record in the guardianship proceeding, prior to respondent’s purchase of the real estate in question, to put any one examining the records upon notice that appellant had claims for which her son’s real estate might well be liable. The order approving appellant’s first account, supra, clearly indicated that the court had expressly found that there was, at that time (1924), due appellant from the estate of her ward, $278 for money expended by her for taxes, interest, etc., together with a large sum for the support and maintenance of the then minor, a further allowance of $30 a month for the support of the minor in the future being then directed.
Respondent purchased the real estate from George King, appellant’s son and ward, shortly after the lad became of age, without any examination of the record, and in spite of the fact that the son said something about an existing claim on the part of his mother. In my opinion, the real estate of a minor (his personal estate being exhausted) is, in the absence of any facts which would create an estoppel, for such time after the minor becomes of age as is reasonably necessary for the guardian to prépare and file a final account and obtain a hearing thereon, chargeable with the
It may be that the court would marshal the ward’s assets and protect a purchaser in good faith to the extent that the guardian be first reimbursed out of other funds belonging to the minor; but that question is not before us.
It appears that, on the hearing on appellant’s amended final account, she reduced the amount which she claimed to be due her from the sum of $1,787.61 to $1,499.57. From tMs amount, the court deducted $450 on account of rentals which should have been charged against appellant, and found that, as between appellant and her son, the latter owed her $1,049.57. Eespondent contends that, because in her 1924 account appellant stated that she had for sixteen years supported her son out of her own property, she should not be allowed the credit she asks by way of support money. While the 1924 account was inartistically drawn, when the document is considered as a whole, appellant’s contention sufficiently appears therefrom, and the paragraphs of the account relied upon by respondent are insufficient to defeat appellant’s recovery
In my opinion, the trial court properly found that there was due appellant, from the guardianship estate, the sum of $1,049.57, but I believe the court erred in refusing to make this charge, together with the amount allowed to appellant as attorney’s fees, a charge upon the real estate which appellant’s son had sold to respondent. On the other hand, respondent should be entitled to have the property which it conveyed to George King, appellant’s son, in exchange for his property, first subjected to appellant’s claim. The proceeding should b.e remanded with permission to respondent to impound, according to law, the property which it conveyed to George Kang, or the proceeds thereof, and subject the same in the first instance to the lien of the charge in favor of appellant. If for any reason none of this property can be subjected to this claim, then, in my opinion, the property conveyed by George King to respondent is liable therefor, and appellant is entitled to a lien thereon.
For the reasons assigned, I dissent from the opinion of the majority.
Mitchell, C. J., Fullerton, and French, JJ., concur with Beals, J.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.