Heppner v. McCombs, 4957
| Decision Date | 24 February 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 4957,4957 |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
| Parties | Vernon C. HEPPNER, Administrator of the Estate of Robert Patton McCombs, deceased, Appellant, v. Sally McCOMBS, as parent and guardian of Bruce McCombs and Lauren McCombs, Minors, Respondent. |
Guild, Guild & Cunningham and Drennan A Clark, Reno, for appellant.
William N. Dunseath, Reno, for respondent.
Robert McCombs and Sally McCombs entered into a separation agreement dated May 15, 1957, containing provisions pertinent to financial and property matters customarily made pending a divorce. Relavant to the issues before this court are two paragraphs; one required Robert McCombs to pay $100 per month for the support and maintenance of two minor children until they reached majority; and the other provided that the agreement was binding upon the heirs, administrators, executors and assigns of the parties.
An Interlocutory Judgment of Divorce was entered on June 25, 1957, by the Superior Court of California and a final decree on July 10, 1958.
Decedent, Robert McCombs, became a resident and domiciliary of Nevada and was a partner in a Reno certified public accounting firm. On August 31, 1958 he married Jane McCombs, now his surviving widow, and on May 24, 1964, he died. He had left a holographic will whereby he gave all of his possessions to Jane.
When the will was admitted to probate, a claim on behalf of the two children was filed against decedent's estate. The claim, in the amount of $12,900, represented $50 per month for each child from the date of death of the decedent to the respective dates each child reaches majority. The remaining $300 was admitted to be owed in the separation agreement and never paid.
The claim was rejected by the administrator and a complaint was filed pursuant to NRS 147.130. The trial court allowed the claim on the ground that the separation agreement evinced an intention by the deceased to bind his estate for the child support and that the California final judgment of divorce which incorporated the agreement was binding on the estate.
On this appeal the parties concede that full faith and credit must be given the California judgment. In California the obligation of a father to support his minor child which is fixed by divorce decree or property settlement agreement does not cease upon the father's death, but survives as a charge against his estate. Taylor v. George, 34 Cal.2d 552, 212 P.2d 505 (1949), and cases cited therein. See also In re Goulart's Estate, 218 Cal.App.2d 260, 32 Cal.Rptr. 229 (1963), and Kress v. Kress, 219 Cal.App.2d 173, 33 Cal.Rptr. 77 (1963). The administrator argues, however, that the children are now receiving survivorship benefits under Social Security in an amount that exceeds the specified support payments and that the judgment for support is thus satisfied.
1. The will in the instant case made no declaration of intent nor any other provision for either the disposition of any Social Security or the distribution...
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Lake v. Lake
...the property settlement agreement and divorce decree did not provide for a credit, none would be given. Finally, in Heppner v. McCombs, 82 Nev. 86, 411 P.2d 123 (1966), the court addressed this issue in relationship to provisions made in the obligor parent's will. The Nevada court held that......
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Allsup, In Interest of
...given for Social Security benefits because not provided for in property settlement agreement and divorce decree); and Heppner v. McCombs, 82 Nev. 86, 411 P.2d 123 (1966) (without expressed intent, Social Security benefits could not be substituted for child support). The court in Pessein exp......
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Hern v. Erhardt
...not decide the issue because it was not squarely before us. See Bailey v. Bailey, 86 Nev. 483, 471 P.2d 220 (1970); Heppner v. McCombs, 82 Nev. 86, 411 P.2d 123 (1966). We conclude that the excess of the amount paid in social security disability benefits over the amount owed as child suppor......
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Bailey v. Bailey
...for installments accruing after death? This issue has never been decided in Nevada, although it was alluded to in Heppner v. McCombs, 82 Nev. 86, 411 P.2d 123 (1966), where this court upheld a California decree containing a property settlement providing that the child support was enforceabl......