In Re Guardianship of Bogan

1968 OK 21, 441 P.2d 972, 1968 Okla. LEXIS 299
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 20, 1968
DocketNo. 41537
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1968 OK 21 (In Re Guardianship of Bogan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Guardianship of Bogan, 1968 OK 21, 441 P.2d 972, 1968 Okla. LEXIS 299 (Okla. 1968).

Opinion

HODGES, Justice.

This appeal upon the original record from the District Court of Osage County, was lodged in this Court by John Miller, petitioner in the County Court of Osage County, and brother of Ella Carson Thomas Bogan, the alleged incompetent. Trial de novo was held in the District Court of Osage County upon Mrs. Bogan’s appeal from the County Court, where a guardian of her estate had been appointed.

The trial proceedings consumed more than four hundred fifty pages of the record, and included testimony of twenty-two different witnesses. The District Court entered Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, and reversed the County Court following the trial de novo.

[974]*974Petitioner asserts six errors in his Petition in Error, but he presents them as a single error. The alleged error, thus contracted, is that the trial court erred in vacating the order of the County Court appointing a guardian for the estate of Ella Carson Thomas Bogan, under the law and the evidence in this case. In support of this position the petitioner cites the following single statement of law from In re Guardianship of Prince, Okl., 379 P.2d 845, to-wit:

“The descriptive words ‘mentally incompetent’, ‘incompetent,’ and ‘incapable,’ as used in [58 O.S.1961 Sections 851-852] mean any person who, though not insane, is, by reason of old age, disease, weakness of mind, or from any other cause, unable or incapable, unassisted, of properly taking care of himself or managing his property, and by reason thereof would be likely to be deceived or imposed upon by artful or designing persons.”

Petitioner’s application for appointment of a guardian for the person, and estate of Mrs. Bogan was made under authority of 58 O.S.1961, §§ 851 and 852. As the appointment of a guardian of only the estate of Mrs. Bogan is here involved, the pertinent parts of the two sections are those which provide for appointment of a guardian of the estate of a person who is “* * from any cause mentally incompetent to manage his property, * * *” and “who * * * is incapable of * * * managing his property, * *

In In re Washam’s Estate, Okl., 364 P.2d 896, we pronounced the following two standards in reviewing trial courts’ judgments relating to the appointment of guardians, to-wit:

“A person’s liberty and the right to control his property should not be taken away or withheld except for urgent reasons.”
“The application for the appointment of a guardian for an incompetent is a special proceeding tried to the court, and on appeal the Supreme Court has power to, and will, review all the evidence for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is sufficient competent testimony to sustain the judgment.”

We have diligently reviewed the record in this case and find ourselves unable to say that the judgment of the trial court is not supported by an abundance of competent evidence. We find no evidence indicating that there is any reason, either urgent or otherwise, to withhold Mrs. Bo-gan’s right to control her own property.

Petitioner’s position that Mrs. Bo-gan should have a guardian appointed for her estate is based upon his contention that she is mentally incompetent, incompetent, or incapable of proper management of her property, unassisted, and by reason thereof is likely to be deceived or imposed upon by artful or designing persons. For this position to be within the rule pronounced in In re Guardianship of Prince, supra, the cause of the inability or incapacity which has resulted in her being subject to deceit or imposition must be grounded in the old age, disease, weakness of mind or some other mental or physical infirmity. Petitioner’s position as to the cause of Mrs. Bogan’s incapacity or inability is not clearly stated in his brief, but in view of the nature of the proof offered, it sufficiently appears that he believes the condition to exist as the result of one or more of the causes included within the rule, especially Mrs. Bo-gan’s age, 84 or 85 at the time of the trial.

The factual contentions upon which petitioner’s position is based are essentially as follows :

1. That she has not managed her affairs for many years; that she has received assistance from and has been influenced by both her former husband, Mr. Thomas, and her attorney, Mr. Charles R. Gray.
2. That Mr. Gray handles everything for her and when she wants any of her saving accounts, she goes to him as he has the books.
3. As a witness Mrs. Bogan incorrectly stated her income, and could not [975]*975remember many things about her assets and business dealings, as to payments on loans from her sister, rent and income from her assets, and existence of a mortgage securing the loan she had made to her sister.
4. That she did not receive adequate rents from her property; and that she did not have proper records therefor.
5. That she had an excessive amount in a checking account, $45,000.00.
6. That she has expressed an intention to assist her new husband, who is thirty-five years her junior, in a movie project which would cost $40,000.00.
7. That she could not identify a blank deposit slip on the bank in which she had the $45,000.00 checking account.
8. That she had a $1,200.00 plumbing bill.
9. That she was susceptible to flattery, and had given a young man a diamond ring worth $1,500.00.
10. There were “odd things” surrounding Mrs. Bogan’s marriage to Mr. Bogan. He had changed his name; he is alleged to have married her to protect her; and he quit a potentially high paying position to marry her.

Concerning Mrs. Bogan’s failure of memory on the witness stand, we must defer to the trial court, who observed her demeanor and was aware of her inflections and attitude and the circumstances of the questioning. The trial court acknowledged a “slight impairment of her memory and hearing, due to her age, but not enough to adjudge her to be incompetent.” The trial court, also, recognized that Mrs. Bogan “may have been slightly confused or nervous.” The court was afforded the benefit of an opinion of Mrs. Bogan as a witness from her legal and investment counsellor of twenty-five years, given on cross-examination by petitioner’s counsel. Questioned about his out of court statements that Mrs. Bogan had not been a good witness in the County Court hearing and that all her testimony there had proved was that she had a “bad memory”, Mr. Charles R. Gray explained as follows:

“* * * You have to give her time to think. You just can’t jump her up with a Question and expect and Answer right now. You’ve got to give her time to think, and you can’t change the subject on her quickly — just like any other person that’s approaching 80 years of age.”

Based upon his acquaintanceship and observation of Mrs. Bogan, Mr. Gray opined that she is now “capable and competent to handle her own business,” and that it would be highly improbable that she would be imposed upon by artful and designing persons.

Much of the evidence produced and relied upon by petitioner to establish the incapacity or inability of Mrs.

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In Re Guardianship of Bogan
1968 OK 21 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1968)

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1968 OK 21, 441 P.2d 972, 1968 Okla. LEXIS 299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-guardianship-of-bogan-okla-1968.