Dejanovich v. Butter

260 N.W. 479, 218 Wis. 231, 1935 Wisc. LEXIS 171
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 1935
StatusPublished

This text of 260 N.W. 479 (Dejanovich v. Butter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dejanovich v. Butter, 260 N.W. 479, 218 Wis. 231, 1935 Wisc. LEXIS 171 (Wis. 1935).

Opinion

MartiN, J.

On August 10, 1934, the appellant filed a petition in the county court of Dodge county in which it is alleged that he is one of the persons named in the aforesaid guardianship; that he became twenty-one years of age on March 15, 1934; that letters of guardianship were issued by said county court in said guardianship matter to the respondent on or about November 22, 1919, and that ever since he has been acting as such guardian. Petitioner further alleges that he has been unable to get a final settlement with said guardian since he became of age.

On said petition the court entered an order dated August 10, 1934, directing said guardian to make and file a full and complete account of all his doings as such guardian. The respondent filed such account on September 13, 1934. This account shows receipts and disbursements covering the period from November 22, 1919, to December 31, 1933. According to this account the guardian had a balance on hand in the sum of $47.18. Upon objections being filed by the appellant to the allowance of said account, a hearing thereon was had in said county court on September 15, 1934.

The record shows that on December 27, 1918, one Anna Dejanovich, mother of the appellant, Nicholas Dejanovich, Mary Dejanovich, Joseph Dejanovich, and Josephine De-janovich Mazar, the minor children of Emil Dejanovich, deceased, and said Anna Dejanovich, petitioned the county court of Dodge county praying for the appointment of one Steve Dejanovich as guardian of said minor children. In said petition it is stated “that said minor Nicholas Dejano-vich has personal property of the value of about $800 and real estate to the value of about $660.” On January 25, 1919, said court entered an order appointing Steve Dejano-vich as guardian of said minors and directing the amount of bond to be furnished. Letters of guardianship were issued accordingly on February 4, 1919.

[233]*233It appears that Steve Dejanovich tendered his resignation as such guardian in writing to said court on October 25, 1919. He also submitted therewith his account as such guardian. The account contains a single debit item as follows :

“Received insurance moneys solely for said Nicholas De-janovich, minor $800.00. No receipts had on account of said Mary and Joseph Dejanovich, their estate consisting wholly of an interest in the homestead of the deceased, and now occupied by the widow and said minor heirs of said deceased. Total $800.00.”

There are two items of credit amounting to $22, leaving a balance on hand on deposit in the State Bank of Mayville in the sum of $778. Upon order and notice, hearing was had on the final account of Steve Dejanovich as guardian on November 22, 1919. The final account was allowed, and said guardian and his surety were discharged from any and all further liability on account thereof.

It further appears that on October 24, 1919, said Anna Dejanovich, mother of said minors, petitioned the county court praying that William Butter (the respondent) be appointed as guardian of said minors. This petition recites:

“That said minors have personal property to the value of about $800.00 and real estate to the value of about $1,000.00.”

On the petition respondent was appointed guardian of said minors on November 22, 1919, and letters of guardianship issued to him on said day at which time respondent received from said former guardian the sum of $778, and gave said former guardian a receipt therefor in the following language :

“I, William Butter of the city of Mayville, in said County, who has this day been ordered by said Court to be appointed as the Guardian of said Nicholas Dejanovich, Mary Dejano-vich, and Joseph Dejanovich — minors, as the successor of [234]*234Steve Dejanovich, who has resigned his trust as the Guardian of said minors, do hereby acknowledge to have received from said Steve Dejanovich as such Guardian, the sum of seven hundred seventy-eight '($778.00) dollars, in manner following, to-wit:
Savings Account in the State Bank of Mayville. .$500.00 Certificate of Deposit' State Bank of Mayville. . . . 100.00
Certificate of Deposit State Bank of Mayville. . . . 100.00 Certificate of Deposit State Bank of Mayville. . . . 78.00
Total..-. .$778.00
—which I now hold in trust for the said minors as aforesaid.
“Dated this 22nd. day of November, 1919.
“William Butter.” [Signed]

It does not appear that the respondent guardian had any personal knowledge that the item of $778 which he received from the former guardian belonged solely to the minor Nicholas Dejanovich, appellant herein. From the petition of the mother of said minors, praying for his appointment and in which it is recited, “that said minors have personal property to the value of about $800.00 and real estate to the value of about $1,000.00,” and the receipt given to said former .guardian which acknowledges receipt of the $778 and containing the following recital, “which I now hold in trust for the said minors as aforesaid,” and in the absence of explanation to the contrary by the court, the attorneys, or the guardian ad litem in said proceedings, the respondent assumed that each of the minor children had an equal interest in the $778 turned over to him by said former guardian, and respondent, as guardian of said minors from 1919 until he filed his account with the court on September 13, 1934, treated the moneys received and disbursed as belonging equally to said minors.

At the hearing on respondent’s account as guardian on September 15, 1934, the appellant, Nicholas Dejanovich, filed objections to said account in substance as follows : That each [235]*235and every item of disbursement was charged against the estate and property of appellant; that all of the income consisted of the insurance moneys in the sum of $800, all of which belonged to appellant personally, the further sum of $98.67 which represented appellant’s equity received on the sale of real estate, and a further item of $39.16, received by the guardian in 1927, which represented wages earned by appellant.

It appears that in August, 1924, the homestead property was sold for $1,150, which amount respondent guardian received; at the time of said sale the homestead was subject to a mortgage with accrued interest amounting in all to $1,051.33. Total receipts covering the period from November 22, 1919, to December 31, 1933, including the $778 received from the former guardian and the $1,150 received from the sale of the homestead property are $2,033.50. The total disbursements covering the same period, including payment of the mortgage against the home property in the sum of $1,051.33, are $1,986.32, leaving a balance on hand in the sum of $47.18. The respondent’s account as filed shows there were no disbursements since the year 1925. The respondent’s account shows that from the time of his appointment as guardian until the sale of the homestead property he paid interest on the mortgage in the sum of $330. During the same period he paid taxes on the homestead property in the sum of $293.13 and paid for insurance on the house the sum of $15.85. Aside from the debit items mentioned, the balance of the receipts consisted of interest received on the bank deposits.

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Bluebook (online)
260 N.W. 479, 218 Wis. 231, 1935 Wisc. LEXIS 171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dejanovich-v-butter-wis-1935.