In Re Conservatorship of Chisholm

1999 NMCA 025, 973 P.2d 261, 126 N.M. 584
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 5, 1999
Docket18510
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1999 NMCA 025 (In Re Conservatorship of Chisholm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Conservatorship of Chisholm, 1999 NMCA 025, 973 P.2d 261, 126 N.M. 584 (N.M. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

OPINION

APODACA, Judge.

{1} Respondent (Father) appeals the district court’s appointment of Petitioner Desert States Life Management (Conservator) as conservator of the estate of his minor son (Child). Father previously negotiated a settlement with Presbyterian Health Care Services to settle claims against Presbyterian arising from injury to Child at birth. Father then established a trust to administer the settlement estate and named himself as the sole trustee of the trust. Child’s mother (Mother) initially filed a petition seeking appointment as conservator of Child’s estate. Later, at the first hearing held by the district court, Mother withdrew her petition for her appointment and sought instead the appointment of Conservator. On appeal, Father challenges the district court’s power to appoint a conservator and the court’s failure to enter findings of fact. We hold that the district court properly appointed Conservator and did not err in failing to enter written findings. We therefore affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} Under the settlement agreement, Presbyterian was obligated to pay three annual $100,000 payments and $3000 per month throughout Child’s life. At the filing of Mother’s petition, the trust held, as an asset, Child’s residence that had been acquired with monies paid by Presbyterian in 1996, and which had been remodeled and equipped to meet Child’s medical needs. Father does not dispute that over $40,000 of the Presbyterian payment went to pay his own personal debts, and the propriety of such expenditure was at issue in the district court. Throughout this proceeding, in arguing against the appointment of a conservator, Father has maintained that the settlement was intended to benefit the entire family, not just Child, and additionally, that the trust was the preferred mechanism to manage Child’s assets.

{3} In response to Mother’s petition, the district court appointed a guardian ad litem and issued notice of hearing. Father answered the petition, asserting that the trust made a conservatorship unnecessary. After the guardian ad litem- filed a report, the district court appointed Conservator as temporary conservator and ordered Presbyterian to make future payments under the settlement agreement to the court registry. Father filed an extensive response with affidavits and supplementing documents to the guardian ad litem’s report.

{4} Following a second hearing, the district court amended its previous order so that Presbyterian would make payment of the principal remainder on the mortgage on Child’s residence directly to a financial institution and pay the balance of any amounts due into the court registry. Father next filed an accounting accompanied with financial records. In response, Conservator filed a motion asking the district court to review Father’s accounting and appoint it permanent conservator. Before the hearing on the motion, the guardian ad litem submitted a supplemental report. After a hearing in which the parties argued their respective positions, the district court entered an order appointing Conservator as permanent conservator and directing that all assets in the court registry and the trust be delivered to Conservator. Father appeals from that order.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

{5} We are not bound by the district court’s conclusions of law and may independently draw our own. See Whitehurst v. Rainbo Baking Co., 70 N.M. 468, 470, 374 P.2d 849, 850 (1962).

B. The District Court’s Failure to Issue Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

{6} Father first argues that the district court erred in failing to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law when requested to do so. Father specifically contends that the court committed error by omitting a finding that “conservatorship is appropriate as the least restrictive form of intervention consistent with the preservation of [Child’s] property,” contrary to the dictates of NMSA 1978, § 45-5-407(1X4) (1998).

{7} Father bases his argument that findings of fact and conclusions of law were required by both Rule l-052(B)(l)(a) NMRA 1998 (court’s decision in trial without jury shall consist of written findings of fact and conclusions of law) and Subsection 45-5-407(1) of the New Mexico Uniform Probate Code.

{8} The Uniform Probate Code governs conservatorship proceedings. See NMSA 1978, §§ 45-5-401 to -432 (1975, as amended through 1998). We therefore address only the district court’s obligations under the Uniform Probate Code. Our effort in construing the Uniform Probate Code is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature. See Cummings v. X-Ray Assocs. of N.M., P.C., 1996-NMSC-035, ¶44, 121 N.M. 821, 918 P.2d 1321. In doing so, we analyze a statute in its entirety, construing each part to achieve a harmonious result. See Key v. Chrysler Motors Corp., 1996-NMSC-038,121 N.M. 764, 769, 918 P.2d 350, 355. This analysis requires us to read each provision of the Uniform Probate Code together with and in relation to the other provisions. See Citizens for Incorporation, Inc. v. Board of County Comm’rs, 115 N.M. 710, 717, 858 P.2d 86, 93 (Ct.App.1993) (“When construing a statute, the entire act is to be read together so that each provision is to be considered in relation to the others.”). Applying these established principles to Article 5 of the Uniform Probate Code, we hold that Subsection 45-5-407(1) does not apply to a petition for appointment of a conservator based on minority.

{9} The applicable provisions appear in both NMSA 1978, § 45-5-401 (1993) and Section 45-5-407. Section 45-5-401 is divided into two subsections. Subsection A applies to the estate and financial affairs of a minor, and Subsection B applies to a person other than a minor. As pertinent to this appeal, Subsection 45-5 — 401(A) permits a court to appoint a conservator of the estate and financial affairs of a minor “if the court determines that: (1) a minor owns property that requires management or protection that cannot otherwise be provided; [or] (2) a minor has or may have financial affairs that may be jeopardized or prevented by his minority.”

{10} As we noted previously, Father’s principal argument on appeal is that the district court failed to follow the requirements of Section 45-5-407. That section spells out the procedure for court appointment of a conservator. It lists the procedures to be followed by the district court after the filing of a petition for appointment of a conservator. At the heart of Father’s argument is the assertion that the district court failed to find by “clear and convincing evidence” the findings required under Section 45-5 — 407, particularly that conservatorship was the least restrictive form of intervention. Father contends that there is no record of “clear and convincing evidence when no evidence was presented” by Conservator at the hearing.

{11} The Legislature divided Section 45-5 — 407 into seventeen subsections, A through Q.

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Bluebook (online)
1999 NMCA 025, 973 P.2d 261, 126 N.M. 584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-conservatorship-of-chisholm-nmctapp-1999.