In re Jaymes

18 Ohio Law. Abs. 613, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 564
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 14, 1935
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 18 Ohio Law. Abs. 613 (In re Jaymes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio 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 Jaymes, 18 Ohio Law. Abs. 613, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 564 (Ohio Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

[615]*615OPINION

By THE COURT

Ordinarily, the issues are determined through pleadings. In the instant case, there are no pleadings, but the issues are presented through the first and final account filled by the guardian, the exceptions thereto filed by the wards or their representatives, and .original papers together with transcript of docket and journal entries.

■ Under §11208 GC, the guardian was given the right of appeal. The pertinent portion of this section reads as follows:

“Appeal may be taken to the Common Pleas Court * ‡ * from an order, decision or judgment of the Probate Court, in settling the account' of * * * guardian.”

[616]*616This same section in the last paragraph provides as follows:

“The cause so appealed shall be tried, heard and decided in the Court of Common Pleas in the same manner as though the Court of Common Pleas had original jurisdiction thereof.”

This means, of course, that the cause would be tried de novo upon the same issues as in the Probate Court, i.e., on the final account of the guardian and the exceptions thereto, on the part of the wards. Incident thereto is also presented the jurisdictional question of right to hear on exception of administrator of John W. Brown.

After the Common Pleas Court determined the case on appeal and its orders, finding and judgment were journalized, it was then the duty of the Clerk of the! Court of Common Pleas to certify such judgment, etc., to the Probate Court, as directed by §,11211 GC, which reads as follows:

“Sec 11211 GC. CERTIFYING DECISIONS OF COMMON PLEAS COURT TO PROBATE COURT, et. Upon the decision of a case, appealed to the Court of Common Pleas, the Clerk shall make out an authenticated transcript of the order, judgment and proceedings of such court therein, and file it with the Probate Judge, who shall record it, and the proceedings thereafter be the same as if such order, judgment, and proceedings had been had in the Probate Court.”

If this section has not been complied 'with, it may be done later, supplemented by the judgment of this court under like certificate.

Complaint is made that the Court of Common Pleas entered a personal judgment against the guardian and the entry as found in the transcript of docket and journal entries in a measure supports this contention.

The Common Pleas Court did not have jurisdiction to enter personal judgment, but its province, like the Probate Court, was to settle the accounts, which, of course, included the right to determine the amount due to the wards. Brown ex v Reed, 56 Oh St 264-272. The judgment of the Court of Common Pleas when certified to the Probate Court and recorded becomes the judgment of the Probate Court.

The determination of the Probate Court on the settlement of an account has the same force and effect as a judgment.

Sec 10954 GC contains the following language:

“The settlement in the Probate Court of the accounts of a guardian is final between him and his ward unless an appeal be taken therefrom to the Common Pleas Court in the manner provided by law.”

Thi^ is the controlling legislative enactment rather than §10506-40 GC as contained in the new Probate Code, the latter not going into effect until January 1, 1932.

In considering the legal questions involved we find essentially different legal problems relating to the two wards.

We first take up and determine the issues as presented in the guardian’s first and final account and the exceptions thereto by the ward Charles-Brown.

The guardian in his first and final account, after taking credit for $6.10 Probate fees on account and guardian’s compensation of $26.04, chargés ‘himself with $201.00 for the ward Charles D. Brown, and presents his check therewith for the- latter amount. Under the exceptions and judgment of the lower court, the question arises as to whether or not interest should be charged upon this amount and the- guardian allowed compensation.

It is admitted by the guardian that none of the funds in his hands for either ward was at any time invested. The lower courts were in accord that the guardian should be charged interest and should not be allowed compensation. The will of exceptions discloses that the evidence went far beyond the proper issue on this item of $20.1.00 which the guardian charged himself with in his final account. In the- absence of an amendment of the final account, the guardian could not, through evidence, challenge its correctness. The lower courts found against the guardian on his claim of payments and this would cure all error, whether or not they made their finding on the principle of law herein announced or by giving to the evidence such probative force as was thought proper.

No claim was made that any payment was ever made to this ward in person, but it was claimed that payments were made to John Tutt, an uncle by marriage of the ward, for board and lodging. There is an entire absence of any evidence that the ward Charles Brown ever lived with or received board and lodging from John Tutt. In fact, all evidence was to the contrary. It would therefore follow that even if this [617]*617was an issue in the case, that no allowance could be made to the guardian since any payment to John Tutt would be illegal and unwarranted. This court has recently made a similar ruling in a Montgomery County case, wherein we held that the question of good faith in a guardian woiild not avail, and the payment to an improper person would not absolve the guardian from liability to "his ward.

The question of interest is controlled by statute and we refer to §10933, GC, the last paragraph of subdivision 7 which reads as follows:

“If the guardian fails to loan or invest money of his ward within such reasonable itime, he must account on settlement for such money’and interest thereon, calculated with annual rests.”

We can not see that the question of charging interest admits of any doubt, since it is admitted by the guardian that he did not invest the funds. When he charges himself with $201.00 in his account, being one-half of the principal after deducting costs and compensation, the charge of interest follows as a matter of law.

On the question of guardian’s compensation, we think the amount should be allowed. ,

It is true that the guardian may be denied compensation when he has been guilty of gross misconduct or mismanagement whereby losses are incurred, but where, as in the present case, the guardian is charged with the full amount coming into his hands and interest thereon at annual rests, we do not feel that compensation should be denied. See In Re Oliver, 9 N.P., N.S., 178, affd, by Circuit Court, unreported.

Sec 10953, GC, provides that guardian may receive such compensation for his services as the court deems reasonable. Under this section the Probate Court is invested with the sole power of allowing compensation, but like all other discretions exercised by courts or administrative officers, they are subject to review.

The claimed dereliction of the- guardian upon which the refusal to allow compensation is based was his failure to file inventory and current accounts every two years from the date of his appointment, as is provided in §,10933 GC, subdivisions 1 and 3.

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Bluebook (online)
18 Ohio Law. Abs. 613, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jaymes-ohioctapp-1935.