Campbell v. Golden, &C.

• Decision Date: 08 November 1881
• Parties: Campbell v. Golden, &c.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

Page 544

79 Ky. 544

Campbell v. Golden, &c.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

November 8, 1881.

APPEAL FROM KNOX CIRCUIT COURT.

W. O. BRADLEY, JOHN G. EVE, AND CAMPBELL FOR APPELLANT.

DISHMAN & McCLARY AND JOHN & J. W. RODMAN FOR APPELLEES.

JUDGE HARGIS DELIVERED THE OPINION OF THE COURT.

When Celia Gibson was but eighteen months old her mother died, leaving her homeless, and without a protector.

The appellant was immediately appointed and qualified as her guardian.

He at once took custody of his ward, and collected the sum of $328.27, which she was entitled to by distribution from her grandfather's estate, and was all the estate she owned.

It appears that Celia was subject to the diseases incident to childhood, and at times exceedingly cross and fretful, which made it necessary for appellant to hunt new homes for her, as the neighbor women whom he had employed to clothe, feed, and care for her became weary of their charge.

A Mrs. Pope kept her longest at $25 per year.

When she became old enough to attend school he sent her to all the common and subscription schools taught in the neighborhood; boarded, clothed, and treated her well at his own house from the time she was twelve years old until her elopement and marriage with her co-appellee in the year 1871, which was in her seventeenth year.

During the whole period of her wardship he made advancements to defray the expenses of her maintenance and education as her necessities demanded.

His daughter was about the same age of Celia, and their treatment was so alike no difference was discovered by any of the witnesses.

On several occasions he evinced deep solicitude for her welfare by riding on horseback twenty miles to see her.

In the incipiency of his duties he loaned $300 of her money at ten per cent. interest per annum, and annually collected the interest until the year 1870.

The interest was insufficient to maintain her, and hence he made the needed advancements.

He was subjected to considerable expense and trouble in an abortive effort to collect the principal of the fund he had loaned, by reason of the non-residence of one of the borrowers and the insolvency of the other, but was refused by the judgment any credit for expenses or services incurred on that account.

As he had caused the money to yield ten per cent. per annum, and subjected himself to personal responsibility for the loss of the principal by contracting for a usurious rate of interest with a non-resident, the court should have allowed him the reasonable expenses and value of his personal services, not more, however, than the excess of interest beyond the legal rate.

He was allowed $39 for his services devoted to her personal safety, sustenance, education, and social elevation from the cradle to the marriage altar, whither her husband, now dissatisfied with appellant's conduct as guardian, carried her against the latter's consent.

This allowance was not reasonable under the circumstances of this case, and there is no law which arbitrarily confines the allowance to the sum of five per cent. on disbursements where the services of the guardian are rendered not only in managing and disbursing the money of his ward, but by personal care and custody of the ward whose nurture and education have been confided to him.

Section 11, article 2, chapter 48, General Statutes, provides, that "the guardian, besides all necessary disbursements and repairs, shall be allowed by the court a reasonable...