In re Schneider's Estate

• Decision Date: 20 February 1948
• Docket Number: 8929.
• Citation: 31 N.W.2d 261,72 S.D. 174
• Parties: In re SCHNEIDER'S ESTATE. STATE v. SCHNEIDER et al.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

31 N.W.2d 261

72 S.D. 174

In re SCHNEIDER'S ESTATE.

STATE v. SCHNEIDER et al.

No. 8929.

Supreme Court of South Dakota

February 20, 1948

Sigurd Anderson, Atty. Gen., and Benjamin D Mintener, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Hooper & Herman, of Gregory, for respondents.

RUDOLPH Judge.

The state has appealed from a decree of the circuit court which determines that the state has no lien against the homestead of a person furnished old age assistance.

SDC 55.3618 provides:

'The Director of Social Security shall, upon the recipient being granted assistance under this chapter, file in the office of the register of deeds * * * a statement setting forth the name and address of the person receiving assistance under this chapter, the amount of monthly assistance granted to the recipient * * * and which said statement * * * shall, from the date of filing thereof and thereafter, be and constitute a lien in favor of the State Department upon all of the property of said recipient, in the county in which the lien is filed * * *.

'If assistance to an applicant is discontinued during his lifetime, said Director is authorized to discharge such lien when the State Department has been reimbursed for all assistance paid to such recipient.

'The lien may be foreclosed in any court of competent jurisdiction. Such foreclosure shall not be commenced until one year after the discontinuance of assistance during the lifetime of the recipient or until after the death of recipient.'

The facts upon which the decree was entered are stipulated and are as follows:

In the month of December 1936, Charles F. Schneider was granted and paid old age assistance which continued until his death on February 10 1946. His wife, Bertha Schneider, was also granted and paid old age assistance commencing in December 1936 and is still receiving such assistance. At the time these payments were commenced, Charles F. Schneider was the owner of certain property in Gregory, South Dakota, which he and his wife occupied as a homestead and which did not exceed in value and extent the homestead limitations as provided by law. Following the death of Charles F. Schneider, his widow Bertha Schneider continued and still continues to occupy the premises as her home. SDC 55.3618, above quoted, has its source in Ch. 220, Laws of 1937. As noted above, payments to the Schneiders commenced prior to the effective date of this 1937 law. After the effective date of this law, each of the Schneiders was requested to, and did, sign separate agreements as follows:

'I, the undersigned recipient of Old Age Assistance granted by the State Public Welfare Commission, under the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to Chapter 98 of the South Dakota Session Laws of 1935 in consideration of the continuance to Old Age Assistance to me by the State Department of Social Security after July 1, 1937, do hereby agree to be bound by all the provisions of Chapter 220 of the South Dakota Session Laws of 1937, laws amendatory thereof, and all rules and regulations pursuant thereto.

'Dated this 25 day of September, 1937.

'(Witnessed)

'(S) Charles F. Schneider

'Recipient.'

In compliance with the 1937 law the Director of the Department of Social Security filed in the office of the Register of Deeds of Gregory County the statement required by the said law upon which to predicate the lien which the law granted against the property of the recipient.

In view of a contention made by the state we believe that at the outset we should examine SDC 55.3618. It is the contention of the state that this law should be sustained as creating a lien upon the homestead because 'the processes of enforcement remain dormant until such a time as the character of the homestead ceases.' It appears that in the states of Kansas Minnesota and Iowa the laws granting a lien on the homestead for old age assistance furnished by the state specifically provide that such lien shall not be enforced against the homestead during the time the property retains its homestead character. Hawkins v. State of Kansas Social Welfare Board, 148 Kan. 760, 84 P.2d 930; Dimke v. Finke, 209 Minn. 29, 295 N.W. 75; In re Estate of Ragan (Vetter v. Griffith), 237 Iowa 619, 23 N.W.2d 521. Our law specifically provides for the foreclosure of the lien in any court of competent jurisdiction. The law is specific in fixing the time within which the processes of enforcement lie dormant, when it provides, 'Such foreclosure shall not be commenced until one year after the discontinuance of assistance during the lifetime of the recipient or until after the death of recipient.' The law specifically providing that the lien cannot be foreclosed until one year after the discontinuance of assistance or until after the death of the recipient, it follows by necessary implication that after the limitations of time thus prescribed have passed the lien is subject to foreclosure. If it were the ...