Athey v. Rask

177 N.W.2d 287
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 14, 1970
DocketNo. 8606
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 177 N.W.2d 287 (Athey v. Rask) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Athey v. Rask, 177 N.W.2d 287 (N.D. 1970).

Opinion

ERICKSTAD, Judge.

Myrtle Athey, the person named as residual legatee and devisee in an instrument asserted by her to be the Last Will and Testament of Erick Rask, appeals to this court from the order of the District Court of Morton County which dismissed her appeal to that court from the order of the County Court which held that the instrument purported to be the Last Will and Testament of Erick Rask was not his Last Will and Testament and thus not entitled to be admitted to probate.

The basic reason for the County Court’s order declining to admit the instrument asserted by Mrs. Athey to be Erick Rask’s Last Will and Testament is set forth in Paragraph 6 of the order dated the 27th day of January, 1968, signed by W. J. Austin as presiding judge of the County Court of Morton County. We quote therefrom:

6. * * * [A]t the time of the execution of the purported will, the said decedent was mentally incompetent to make and execute such an instrument for the reason that when the same was made and executed, and for a long time prior thereto, and up to and including the date of his death, his mind was impaired to the extent of understanding, realizing, or appreciating what disposition he was making or had made of his property therein and did not comprehend the meaning or effect of the disposition of his property and that he was laboring [288]*288under one or more insane delusions in that he imagined that h,e was the father of one or more children and that Myrtle Athey, the residual devisee and legatee named in the purported will, was in fact his daughter when in fact the same was not true and that said delusions existed at th,e time he made and executed the purported will, as well as before and subsequent thereto, and that the same had no basis in fact, reason or evidence, and was irrational and was caused by his mental derangement and directly affected his testamentary capacity to such an extent to make the will a nullity and of no force and effect.

In this appeal we are not asked to determine the truth of that statement, but are asked to determine whether Mrs. Athey’s appeal from the County Court order to the District Court was timely taken.

In this case, in the contest over the admission of the instrument alleged by Mrs. Athey to be Erick Rask’s Last Will and Testament, the County Judge of Morton County, deeming himself disqualified, requested the County Judge of Burleigh County to act in his stead. In an effort to establish the procedural facts the respondents filed in the District Court proceeding an affidavit executed by Judge Austin. The pertinent parts of Judge Austin’s affidavit follow:

1. That he is’and at all times hereinafter mentioned was the duly elected, qualified and acting Judge of the County Court in and for the County of Burleigh, State of North Dakota.
2. That on or about the 4th day of January, 1968, Wm. F. Hodny, the County Judge in and for Morton County, North Dakota by a written instrument pursuant to Section 27-07-19, declared himself to be disqualified to admit the will to probate and requested your af-fiant to hear, conduct and try the petition to admit the will in the above proceedings to probate and to grant letters testamentary pursuant to Section 27-07-20.
3. That thereafter on the 16th day of January, 1968 the records consisting of the original papers in the above proceedings were duly transferred to the office of my court in the Courthouse of Bur-leigh County, North Dakota.
4. That thereafter on the 16th day of January, 1968, I duly heard the petition for the admission of the purported will and the answer and objections thereto in the above referred to proceedings.
5. That on the 23rd day of January, 1968,1 duly made and filed my Memorandum Decision in the proceedings and caused a copy thereof to be mailed to each of the attorneys for the parties herein.
6. ‘That thereafter on the 23rd day of January, 1968, I caused the original papers together with my said Memorandum Opinion to be delivered to the County Court of Morton County, North Dakota for the purpose of transcribing said Memorandum Opinion into the records of said court.
7. That on the 27th day of January, 1968, the proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusiofts of Law and Decision were duly delivered to my office in the County Court of Burleigh County and I thereupon duly endorsed on the original thereof the date the same were filed in my office and proceeded to duly execute the said Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision herein by signing my name thereto.
8. That thereafter, and at the request of the attorney for the respondents who objected to the probate of such will, I duly mailed the same to him for the purpose of making service thereof.

Although the record does not so disclose, both parties agree that notice of entry of the order entitled “Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision,” executed [289]*289January 27, 1968, by Judge Austin, was served upon counsel for Mrs. Athey by letter mailed January 29, 1968. Stamped on the order is a certificate indicating that the order was filed by the clerk of the County Court of Morton County on January 30, 1968. No information relative to filing in the office of the County Court of Burleigh County is evident from our examination of the order.

Thus, we have an order executed on the 27th of January, 1968, by Judge Austin sitting in his office in Burleigh County acting in place of Judge Hodny, the County Judge of Morton County, which order was ultimately taken to the office of the County Judge in Morton County and there stamped as filed on the 30th of January, 1968.

Mrs. Athey, after serving the respondents with notice of appeal from the January 27 order, filed the notice of appeal with proper undertaking and proof of service with the County Court of Morton County on February 28, 1968.

Because more than thirty days elapsed between the execution of the order and the filing of the notice of appeal and other necessary documents, the respondents contend here, as they did before the trial court where they prevailed, that the appeal was not timely and that for that reason the trial court had no jurisdiction over the subject matter and therefore could not hear the appeal on its merits.

The statute governing appeal from an order of a county court is Section 30-26-03, N.D.C.C. The pertinent part reads:

Appeal — How taken. — To effect an appeal, the appellant must cause a notice of the appeal to be served on each of the other parties and must file such notice with the proofs of service, and an undertaking for appeal, in the county court, within thirty days from and after the date of the order or decree. * * *

In this case we must decide when the time for appeal from the County Court order began to run.

Among the decisions referred to us by Mrs. Athey in support of her contention that the time for appeal should not begin to run until the order is filed by the clerk are State v. Lindeman, 64 N.D. 518, 254 N.W. 276, and In Re Heart River Irrigation District, 78 N.D. 302, 49 N.W.2d 217. We shall discuss those cases later herein.

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Related

In Re Estate of Rask
214 N.W.2d 525 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1974)
Athey v. Rask
214 N.W.2d 525 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
177 N.W.2d 287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/athey-v-rask-nd-1970.