Linton v. State Dept. of Public Health and Welfare

• Decision Date: 10 November 1952
• Docket Number: No. 7096,7096
• Citation: 252 S.W.2d 841
• Parties: LINTON v. STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 841

252 S.W.2d 841

LINTON v. STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE.

No. 7096.

Springfield Court of Appeals, Missouri.

Nov. 10, 1952.

Elmore G. Crowe, Jefferson City, for appellant.

Graves & Graves, Neosho, for respondent.

VANDEVENTER, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by the State Department of Public Health and Welfare, from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Newton County, Missouri, reversing a decision of the director of that department, which denied an application for old age assistance. The reason given for such denial was that the claimant and his wife had transferred property (approximately $2,800 in cash) to a granddaughter for the purpose of rendering claimant eligible for such assistance.

The evidence, as gleaned from the record before us, shows that in September, 1946, claimant made an application for old age assistance, which was rejected because it appeared that claimant's wife had on deposit in a bank at Seneca, Missouri, the sum of $4,164.14. Applicant was notified of the reason for this rejection by letter and at the time made no claim that the money belonged to anyone other than himself and wife. On August 5, 1948, he filed another application. This claim was rejected in October, 1948, because he and his wife, in March, 1948, had given their granddaughter, Alimae Carman, approximately $2,800 in cash. He appealed from this decision of the referee to the State Department of Public Health and Welfare, which also found him ineligible because he and his wife had made this transfer of cash to the granddaughter for the purpose of rendering himself eligible for old age assistance. This decision of the director rendered June 30, 1949, provided that it 'should not be construed to preclude the claimant from filing a new application if in the future, he is able to secure evidence of the existence of the grand-daughter and evidence that the funds in question belonged to said grand-daughter.'

In January, 1950, another application was made (the one now before us) and it was also rejected by the referee and on appeal, by the director of the State Department of Public Health and Welfare, for the reason that applicant had transferred his money to become eligible for old age benefits.

The evidence on his hearing showed that in March, 1948, claimant's wife withdrew at least $2,650 and perhaps $2,800 from the Bank of Seneca and gave it to their granddaughter, in cash, at a secret rendezvous, near a bridge in Seneca, Missouri. It was claimed by applicant and his wife, that this money belonged to their granddaughter, who, at the time of the hearing, was living at Seneca, Missouri, and who had given it to them from time to time after 1942, for safe-keeping. Claimant first testified that it was paid by the granddaughter in checks but later in his testimony, he asserted it was paid in cash at different times and in different amounts, about which he was very uncertain. He said it was delivered in person some of the time and at other times it was brought by his granddaughter's friend, but he couldn't name the friend. He kept no record but claimed that his wife did. He did not know the exact amount that belonged to his granddaughter but claimed that the reason she turned the money over to them was that she was having trouble with her first husband. He was uncertain as to what the first husband's name was. At one time $800 was delivered to them. At one time, claimant and his wife sent the granddaughter $350 by wire. He didn't know the date of this transmittal or whether all the money she sent them was deposited. He testified that his and his wife's salary checks were deposited in the bank account with money of their granddaughter.

His wife testified that when her granddaughter would give her any money, which was always in cash, she would sometimes spend it and at other times deposit it in the bank at Seneca with her and her husband's salary checks. At one time she said she sent her granddaughter $50 by wire but the balance of the money she checked out and gave to her personally. She admitted withdrawing approximately $2,600, in cash from the bank and delivering it to her granddaughter near a bridge at Seneca. She had no record of the amount or the dates of the deposits, or of the total amount due her granddaughter. These amounts were always delivered by her granddaughter to her in person, none was sent. The granddaughter was not produced as a witness nor was her deposition or affidavit presented for the enlightenment of the referee. Claimant's wife did not know the name of her granddaughter's husband at the time the various sums of money were said to have been delivered but it could have been Roberts, McRoberts, McDaniels or McPherson.

The evidence showed that a Mr. Richard Robertson had at one time (while the second application was pending) interviewed at Joplin, Missouri, a person, declared to be the granddaughter. That he had taken an affidavit from this person which he had considered and submitted to the director of the State Department of Public Health and Welfare in Jefferson City and while he had no reason to doubt the facts stated therein, he and the director to whom the case went on appeal, after considering the affidavit, again refused the granting of the old age assistance to the applicant. This affidavit is not in the record before us but was...