Reed v. Reed

• Decision Date: 11 February 1970
• Docket Number: No. 10417,10417
• Citation: 93 Idaho 511,465 P.2d 635
• Parties: Sally M. REED, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Cecil R. REED, Administrator In the Matter of the Estate of Richard Lynn Reed, Deceased, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 635

465 P.2d 635

93 Idaho 511

Sally M. REED, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Cecil R. REED, Administrator In the Matter of the Estate of Richard Lynn Reed, Deceased, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 10417.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Feb. 11, 1970.

Rehearing Denied March 24, 1970.

Charles S. Stout, Boise, for defendant-appellant.

Derr, Derr & Walters, Boise, and Robert F. McLaughlin, Mountain Home, for plaintiff-respondent.

McFADDEN, Chief Justice.

Richard Lynn Reed, the adopted son of Sally M. Reed and Cecil R. Reed, died intestate on March 29, 1967, in Ada County. According to the respective petitions of his mother Sally M. Reed, and of his father, Cecil R. Reed, his parents were his only heirs at law.

Sally M. Reed, the respondent herein, as the decedent's mother, filed her petition for probate of his estate on November 6, 1967. Prior to the time set for the hearing on this petition, Cecil R. Reed, the father, also petitioned for letters of administration.

The Ada County probate judge deemed himself disqualified to act and the cause was heard before another probate judge, pursuant to stipulation. The cause was heard on the petitions for administration of the respective parties, and the probate court entered its order appointing appellant Reed (the father). The probate court in entering its order noted that each of the parties was equally entitled to letters of administration under I.C. § 15-312, but that Mr. Reed, the appellant, was entitled to a preference by reason of I.C. § 15-314, which provides that as between persons equally entitled to administer an estate, males must be preferred to females.

On April 23, 1968 the respondent (the mother) appealed to the district court contending that I.C. § 15-314 is unconstitutional as a violation of the Idaho Civil Rights Act (I.C. § 18-7301 et seq.), the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Art. 1, § 1 of the Idaho Constitution. The district court reversed the order of the probate court on the ground that I.C. § 15-314 violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and returned the case to the probate court for a determination, disregarding the preference set out by I.C. § 15-314, of who is entitled to the letters of administration. The appellant has appealed to this court contending that the district court erred in holding I.C. § 15-314 unconstitutional.

I.C. § 15-312 provides that

'Administration of the estate of a person dying intestate must be granted to some one or more of the persons hereinafter mentioned, and they are respectively entitled thereto in the following order:

1. The surviving husband or wife or some competent person whom he or she may request to have appointed.

2. The children.

3. The father or mother. * * *'

This section is followed by I.C. § 15-314 which provides that

'Of several persons claiming and equally entitled to administer, males must be preferred to females, and relatives of the whole to those of the half blood.'

Since, then, under I.C. § 15-312 a father and mother are 'equally entitled' to letters of administration, the father has a preference by virtue of I.C. § 15-314.

This court has said before that the priorities established by I.C. § 15-312 are mandatory, leaving no room for discretion by the court in the appointment of administrators. Vaught v. Struble, 63 Idaho 352, 120 P.2d 259 (1941). Similarly the preference given males by I.C. § 15-314 is also mandatory; the statute itself says that males must be preferred to females. Other courts construing similar provisions have also held that the preference is mandatory. In re Coan's Estate, 132 Cal. 401, 64 P. 691 (1901).

The respondent, however, contends that I.C. § 15-314 violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution because the discrimination against females as a class is not based upon any rational policy, but rather is arbitrary and capricious. She contends that there is no justifiable basis for granting males a preference merely on the basis of sex.

It is well settled that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not preclude the legislature from making classifications and drawing distinctions between classes. It merely prohibits classifications which are arbitrary and capricious. Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956); Morey v. Doud, 354 U.S. 457, 77 S.Ct. 1344, 1 L.Ed.2d 1485 (1957); McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 85 S.Ct. 283, 13 L.Ed.2d 222 (1964). It is for the courts to determine in each instance whether a particular classification rests upon rational grounds or is in fact without justification and arbitrary. Carrington v. Rash, 380 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 775, 13 L.Ed.2d 675 (1965); McLaughlin v. Florida, supra.

It is equally well settled that legislative enactments are entitled to a presumption of validity and that a classification will not be held unconstitutional absent a clear showing that it is arbitrary and without justification. Rowe v. City of Pocatello, 70 Idaho 343, 218 P.2d 695 (1950).

I.C. § 15-312 classifies individuals as to their relationship to a decedent and gives to those most closely related to the decedent a preference for appointment as administrator. This classification is basically in accord with the law as to the intestate succession of property in Idaho. I.C. § 14-103. Those first entitled to succeed to the property have a priority over subsequent successors insofar as entitlement to administer is concerned. This is a basic and rational classification insofar as I.C. § 15-312 is concerned. However, unlike determination of succession of property where a court may award to individuals in a class a proportionate share of property without complication, the naming of an administrator out of a particular class becomes more involved. Generally only one administrator is named, although by joint petition it is possible for joint administrators to be named from a particular class.

When two or more persons of a class, as established by I.C. § 15-312, individually seek administration of an estate, the court is faced with the issue of which one should be named. By I.C. § 15-314, the legislature eliminated two areas of controversy, i.e., if both a man and a woman of the same class seek letters of administration, the made would be entitled over the female, the same as a relative of the whole blood is entitled over a relative of the same class but of only the half blood. This provision of the statute is neither an illogical nor arbitrary method devised by the legislature to resolve an issue that would otherwise require a hearing as to the relative merits as to which of the two or more petitioning relatives should be appointed.

Philosophically it can be argued with some degree of logic that the provisions of I.C. § 15-314 do discriminate against women on the basis of sex. However nature itself has established the distinction and this statute is not designed to discriminate, but is only designed to alleviate the problem of holding hearings by the court to determine eligibility to administer. This is one of those areas where a choice must be made, and the legislature by enacting I.C. § 15-314 made the determination.

The legislature when it enacted this statute evidently concluded that in general men are better qualified to act as an administrator than are women. As the United States Supreme Court pointed out in Morey v. Doud, supra,

"A classification having some reasonable basis does not offend against that clause (equal protection clause) merely because it is not made with mathematical nicety or because in...