Winjum v. Jesten
| Decision Date | 29 March 1934 |
| Docket Number | No. 29857.,29857. |
| Citation | 253 N.W. 881,191 Minn. 294 |
| Parties | WINJUM v. JESTEN. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Clay County; Carroll A. Nye, Judge.
Action by James H. Winjum, as administrator of the estate of Ole J. Winjum, deceased, against the State Bank of Hawley, wherein Clarence Jesten, as administrator of the estate of Halvor H. Knutson, deceased, was substituted as defendant. From an order denying his motion for a new trial, plaintiff appeals.
Order reversed and cause remanded with directions.
M. J. Hegland, of Roseau, for appellant.
C. G. Dosland, of Moorhead, for respondent.
Plaintiff appeals from an order denying his motion for a new trial. There was included in the motion a motion for amended findings of fact and conclusions of law, which was likewise denied. The case was tried to the court, without a jury, on the pleadings and a stipulation of facts.
The brief facts are in substance: One Halvor H. Knutson, an incompetent person, was, for some twenty-one years and until his death, under guardianship. Ole J. Winjum was his guardian. The guardianship proceedings were brought and carried on in the probate court of Roseau county. Knutson died September 26, 1932, in Clay county. His guardian, shortly thereafter, filed his final account in the probate court of Roseau county. The probate court had a hearing on said final account on November 5, 1932, and, by its order made on that date, settled the account and made its final order thereon, finding that there remained in the hands of the guardian the sum of $395.44 in cash, and no other property. The court ordered and directed the guardian to turn over and deliver said sum to the representative of the estate of Knutson. The guardian, Ole J. Winjum, died November 29, 1932, before any administrator had been appointed for the estate of Knutson and before the $395.44 had been or could have been delivered to such representative, as ordered by the probate court. Promptly after the death of Ole J. Winjum, the guardian, this plaintiff was appointed administrator of his estate. At the time Ole J. Winjum died, he had on hand, on deposit in his name as guardian of Halvor H. Knutson in the State Bank of Hawley, in Clay county, the sum of $624.01. The difference between this sum and the $395.44, which the guardian was charged with and ordered to pay over to the administrator of the Knutson estate, may be accounted for by the very modest compensation of $15 per year allowed in the final account to the guardian for his services, or other items of expense allowed in said account, and not taken out of the money on hand up to the time the guardian died. Plaintiff, as administrator of the estate of the guardian, demanded of the bank the payment of the said sum of $624.01 on deposit, and payment was refused. This action was then brought against the bank to recover the money. Thereafter in March, 1933, while the action was pending, Clarence Jesten was appointed by the probate court of Clay county as administrator of the Halvor H. Knutson estate. It was thereupon stipulated that Jesten, as administrator, be substituted as defendant in the action and that the State Bank of Hawley be permitted to pay the $624.01 into court to abide the outcome of the action, which was done.
1. The trial court, after finding the facts substantially as stipulated and above stated, added thereto certain findings, in the nature of conclusions of law, as follows:
"That at the death of the said Ole J. Winjum his guardianship of the estate of Halvor H. Knutson terminated, and that the probate court of Roseau County, Minnesota, thereafter was without jurisdiction as to the allowance of claims against the estate of said Halvor H. Knutson, deceased, and only retained such jurisdiction as was necessary for the closing of the guardianship account."
This finding or conclusion does not appear to apply to the facts in the case, for here the guardianship account had been closed prior to the death of Ole J. Winjum, the guardian, except that the $395.44, found to be the amount of the estate remaining in the hands of the guardian and ordered by the probate court to be paid to the representative of the estate of Knutson, had not yet been paid, presumably because no representative of said estate had been appointed.
Perhaps, inadvertently, the court referred to the time of the death of the guardian, Ole J. Winjum, instead of the time of the death of the ward, Halvor H. Knutson, as the time when the guardianship terminated. The guardianship terminates on the death of the ward, except that the probate court retains jurisdiction over the guardian and the property for the purpose of hearing and settling the final account of the guardian.
When a guardianship terminates, by death or coming of age of the ward, the jurisdiction of the probate court in the guardianship matter does not cease, but continues so far as settlement of guardianship accounts are concerned up to and including the final settlement. Jacobs v. Fouse, 23 Minn. 51; Huntsman v. Fish, 36 Minn. 148, 30 N. W. 455; Lyngen v. Tessum, 169 Minn. 304, 211 N. W. 314; Mason's Minn. St. 1927, § 8949.
That, after the death of the ward, the probate court of Roseau county had jurisdiction and power to settle the account of the guardian and determine the amount remaining to be paid to the representative of the ward's estate is so well settled that the citation of further authorities is not necessary.
2. In hearing and settling the final account, the probate court necessarily passes upon the amount and validity of the expenses paid or incurred by the guardian and determines what compensation the guardian is to receive, if any, and determines what shall be allowed or disallowed for such expenses and fees. It determines all other matters incident to the account. The court then determines the amount of money or property, or both, remaining in the hands of the guardian after the payment of allowed expenditures and fees, and orders the guardian to pay over and deliver such money or property, or both, to the representative of the estate of the deceased ward. Mason's Minn. St. §§ 8949, 8950; Jacobs v. Fouse, 23 Minn. 51; Huntsman v. Fish, 36 Minn. 148, 30 N. W. 455.
3. The court further found or concluded:
"That immediately upon the decease of the said Halvor H. Knutson, an incompetent, his personal estate, consisting only of the funds heretofore referred to in the hands of the State Bank of Hawley, became the property of his heirs at law, subject only to the administration thereof by the duly appointed representative of said estate by the probate court of Clay County, Minnesota, which estate is now being probated by said court."
When a ward dies, property in the hands of his guardian does not immediately pass to the representative of the ward's estate or to the ward's heirs. The guardian retains the property for the time necessary to have his final account settled and allowed, and the probate court, on such settlement, determines the amount of property remaining in the...
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