Hoesly v. State, Dept. of Social Services
| Decision Date | 23 April 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. S-91-038,S-91-038 |
| Citation | 498 N.W.2d 571,243 Neb. 304 |
| Parties | William HOESLY, Appellant, v. STATE of Nebraska, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, and Kermit R. McMurry, Director, Nebraska Department of Social Services, Appellees. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Joint Accounts. A certificate of deposit in the names of multiple parties is a type of joint account.
2. Statutes: Appeal and Error. Statutory interpretation is a question of law in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an independent conclusion irrespective of the determination made by the court below.
3. Statutes: Legislature: Intent. In settling upon the meaning of a statute, an appellate court must determine and give effect to the purpose and intent of the Legislature as ascertained from the entire language of the statute considered in its plain, ordinary, and popular sense, it being the court's duty to discover, if possible, the Legislature's intent from the language of the statute itself.
4. Statutes. In the absence of anything indicating to the contrary, statutory language is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning; when the words of a statute are plain, direct, and unambiguous, no interpretation is necessary or will be indulged to ascertain their meaning.
5. Public Assistance: Intent. Under the language of Neb.Rev.Stat. § 68-1002 (Reissue 1990), depriving oneself of resources is not, in and of itself, a disqualifying act; the disqualification results from doing so with the intention and for the purpose of becoming eligible for public assistance.
6. Judgments: Appeal and Error. A judgment which is unsupported by competent and relevant evidence is an error on the record.
7. Public Assistance: Intent: Words and Phrases. "Purpose" with respect to Neb.Rev.Stat. § 68-1002 (Reissue 1990) means an intention or aim, object, plan, or project.
8. Intent: Words and Phrases. An intention or plan requires intelligence to be applied to a problem in seeking a desired result.
9. Statutes. If there is a conflict, the special provisions of a statute prevail over general provisions in the same or other statutes.
10. Constitutional Law: Appeal and Error. Generally, a constitutional question will not be considered on appeal if not properly raised in the trial court.
Paul Schumacher, Columbus, for appellant.
Don Stenberg, Atty. Gen., and Royce N. Harper, Lincoln, for appellees.
Acting through the defendant-appellee Nebraska Department of Social Services and its director, the defendant-appellee Kermit R. McMurry, the State disqualified the plaintiff-appellant, William Hoesly, from receiving further public assistance monies. Hoesly appealed to the district court, which implicitly found that Hoesly had renounced an after-acquired interest in certain personal property with the intention and for the purpose of continuing to qualify for such assistance, and thus affirmed the State's determination. Hoesly here asserts the district court erred in so ruling. We affirm.
Because the petition instituting the proceedings for review of the State's determination was filed in the district court after July 1, 1989, we review the district court's judgment for error appearing on the record. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 84-918(3) (Cum.Supp.1992). See, also, Person v. Department of Soc. Servs., 234 Neb. 865, 453 N.W.2d 390 (1990).
Hoesly was a recipient of assistance to the aged, blind, or disabled under the provisions of Neb.Rev.Stat. § 68-1001 et seq. (Reissue 1990) and of medical assistance under the provisions of Neb.Rev.Stat. § 68-1018 et seq. (Reissue 1990). On January 11, 1990, Hoesly's father died intestate, possessed of two certificates of deposit issued by a local bank. Although neither the actual certificates nor copies of them are in the record, a letter from the bank recites that one certificate, having a value of $21,091.35, stands in the name of Hoesly or his father with the right of survivorship, and the other, having a value of $11,000, stands in the name of Hoesly, his father, and Hoesly's two sisters with the right of survivorship.
At no time did Hoesly contribute funds to the certificates of deposit, nor did he receive any money or interest therefrom. Prior to his father's death, Hoesly's sole financial asset was a bank account with a balance of approximately $1,800.
On January 31, 1990, a local office of the department received a telephone call from Hoesly's niece, requesting a copy of the department's regulations, and specifically such regulations as would allow Hoesly to renounce his share of his father's estate.
On March 14, 1990, the department sent Hoesly notice that his assistance was being terminated, effective March 31, because he now had an interest in resources in excess of the maximum limit permitted him, i.e., $2,000. See 469 Neb.Admin.Code, ch. 2, § 009.08 (1989). On April 12, Hoesly executed a renunciation of his rights to inherit or receive any property from his father's estate because he was "getting along fine and ... didn't need the money."
The resolution of this case requires an interpretation and application of language found in several statutes.
Section 68-1002(3) provides, in pertinent part, that in order to qualify for assistance to the aged, blind, or disabled, an individual must not have "deprived himself directly or indirectly of any property whatsoever for the purpose of qualifying for" such assistance.
Nebraska's renunciation provisions are contained in Neb.Rev.Stat. § 30-2352 (Reissue 1989):
(a)(1) A person ... who is an heir ... surviving joint owner or surviving joint tenant ... may renounce in whole or in part, or with reference to specific parts, fractional shares, undivided portions or assets thereof, by filing a written instrument of renunciation within the time and at the place hereinafter provided.
....
(c) Unless the transferor of the interest has otherwise indicated in the instrument creating the interest, the interest renounced, and any future interest which is to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after the termination of the interest renounced, passes as if the person renouncing had predeceased the decedent or had died prior to the date on which the transfer creating the interest in such person is made, as the case may be.... The person renouncing shall have no power to direct how the interest being renounced shall pass.... In every case when the renunciation is within the time periods set forth ... the renunciation relates back for all purposes to the date of death of the decedent or the date on which the transfercreating the interest in such person is made, as the case may be.
Specifically with regard to the right of survivorship, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 30-2704(a) (Reissue 1989) reads:
Sums remaining on deposit at the death of a party to a joint account belong to the surviving party or parties as against the estate of the decedent unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intention at the time the account is created. If there are two or more surviving parties, their respective ownerships during lifetime shall be in proportion to their previous ownership interests under section 30-2703 augmented by an equal share for each survivor of any interest the decedent may have owned in the account immediately before his death; and the right of survivorship continues between the surviving parties.
We consider first whether Hoesly possessed a present interest in the certificates of deposit even prior to the death of his father.
A certificate of deposit in the names of multiple parties is a type of joint account. Peterson v. Peterson, 230 Neb. 479, 432 N.W.2d 231 (1988). Neb.Rev.Stat. § 30-2703(a) (Reissue 1989) states that "[a] joint account belongs, during the lifetime of all parties, to the parties in proportion to the net contributions by each to the sums on deposit, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent." In Peterson, 230 Neb. at 488, 432 N.W.2d at 237, we construed § 30-2703(a) to mean:
One who knowledgeably creates a joint account with another arguably does so with the present intent to employ the account's survivorship characteristic in substitution for a testamentary device. Like testamentary devices, under § 30-2703 creation of a joint account, without more, accomplishes no present transfer of title to property. If, as in this case, all sums deposited into the joint account are deposited by one person, the joint account contemplates transfer of title to those funds to the other person or persons named on the account upon the death of the depositor. Of course, others named as joint holders of the account have the power to withdraw funds from the account before the death of the depositor, but under § 30-2703, they arguably do not have the right to do so.
Cf. 469 Neb.Admin.Code, ch. 2, § 009.03A2a (1988).
Because Hoesly's father was the sole depositor on both certificates of deposit, Hoesly did not possess an interest in the certificates until the occasion of his father's death.
Accordingly, we next concern ourselves with the interplay between §§ 68-1002 and 30-2352. As we embark on that task, we recall that statutory interpretation is a question of law in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an independent conclusion irrespective of the determination made by the court below. Professional Firefighters of Omaha v. City of Omaha, 243 Neb. 166, 498 N.W.2d 325 (1993); McDonald's Exec. Off. v. Nebraska Dept. of Revenue, 243 Neb. 82, 497 N.W.2d 377 (1993). In settling upon the meaning of a statute, we must determine and give effect to the purpose and intent of the Legislature as ascertained from the entire language of the statute considered in its plain, ordinary, and popular sense, it being our duty to discover, if possible, the Legislature's intent from the...
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