Makedonsky v. North Dakota Department of Human Services

2008 ND 49, 746 N.W.2d 185, 2008 N.D. LEXIS 52, 2008 WL 746467
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 20, 2008
Docket20070183
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2008 ND 49 (Makedonsky v. North Dakota Department of Human Services) 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
Makedonsky v. North Dakota Department of Human Services, 2008 ND 49, 746 N.W.2d 185, 2008 N.D. LEXIS 52, 2008 WL 746467 (N.D. 2008).

Opinions

CROTHERS, Justice.

[¶ 1] Minnie Makedonsky appeals from a district court judgment affirming a North Dakota Department of Human Services’ decision denying her application for [187]*187Medicaid benefits. She argues the Department erred in deciding assets transferred to her daughters by her attorney-in-fact were available to her for purposes of determining her Medicaid eligibility. We hold a preponderance of evidence supports the Department’s findings that a presumption of undue influence regarding the transfers was not rebutted and that assets transferred to Makedonsky’s daughters by her attorney-in-fact were available to her for purposes of determining her Medicaid eligibility. We affirm.

I

[¶ 2] Minnie Makedonsky entered a nursing home in Kidder County in August 2002, and the parties stipulated that at all times relevant to her claim for Medicaid benefits, she was mentally competent and capable of understanding her business affairs, but she had physical deficiencies requiring nursing home care. On August 22, 2002, after entering the nursing home, Minnie Makedonsky executed a durable power of attorney, appointing her daughter, JoAnn Makedonsky, as her attorney-in-fact. Between November 2002 and September 2005 JoAnn Makedonsky, as her mother’s attorney-in-fact, gifted more than $159,000 in assets to Minnie Makedonsky’s four daughters, JoAnn Makedonsky, Carol Schwindt, Rose Mack, and Donita Endrud. On September 8, 2005, Minnie Makedon-sky executed a “statement of intention to gift,” stating she had freely and voluntarily made those gifts to her daughters and she was not influenced by anyone, including JoAnn Makedonsky, in making those gifts.

[¶ 3] In February 2006, Minnie Make-donsky applied for Medicaid benefits with Kidder County Social Services. The county denied her application, concluding she had made disqualifying transfers of assets. Minnie Makedonsky appealed to the Department of Human Services.

[¶ 4] After an administrative hearing, an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) recommended affirming the county’s decision. The ALJ said JoAnn Makedonsky was a trustee for Minnie Makedonsky under N.D.C.C. § 59-01-08. The ALJ further said any transaction by which a trustee obtains any advantage from a beneficiary is presumed to be entered into without sufficient consideration and is a result of undue influence under N.D.C.C. § 59-01-16. The Department adopted the ALJ’s recommendation and found JoAnn Makedonsky had not rebutted the presumption of undue influence because Minnie Makedonsky had not testified at the administrative hearing to substantiate Minnie’s intent to gift her assets or to explain how she intended to pay for her nursing home costs. The Department concluded Minnie Makedon-sky’s testimony would have been the best evidence to rebut the presumption of undue influence and JoAnn Makedonsky’s hearsay testimony about her mother’s intent was not credible. The Department was not convinced by Minnie Makedon-sky’s claim that, before she signed the statement of intention to gift, she had intended to gift her assets to her daughters. The Department recognized an applicant for Medicaid benefits must make a good-faith effort to pursue available legal actions to have assets made available for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. The Department determined Minnie Makedon-sky had a cause of action to have the gifted assets returned to her until she signed the statement of intention to gift on September 8, 2005, because under N.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-02.1-33.1(8), “a transfer is complete when the individual ... making the transfer has no lawful means of undoing the transfer or requiring a restoration of ownership.” It decided Minnie Makedonsky made a disqualifying transfer when she executed the [188]*188statement of intention to gift on September 8, 2005, which was within the thirty-six month look-back period of her February 2006 application for Medicaid benefits. Based on the value of the disqualifying transfer, the ALJ recommended that Minnie Makedonsky’s period of ineligibility for Medicaid benefits was from September 2, 2005, through July 15, 2008. The Department adopted the ALJ’s recommendation, and the district court affirmed the Department’s decision.

II

[¶ 5] “ ‘When a decision of an administrative agency is appealed from the district court to this Court, we review the decision of the agency.’ ” Martin v. Stutsman County Soc. Servs., 2005 ND 117, ¶ 8, 698 N.W.2d 278 (quoting Steen v. North Dakota Dep’t of Human Servs., 1997 ND 52, ¶ 7, 562 N.W.2d 83). Under N.D.C.C. § 28-32-49, we review an administrative agency’s decision in the same manner as the district court, and we must affirm the agency’s decision unless:

“1. The order is not in accordance with the law.
2. The order is in violation of the constitutional rights of the appellant.
3. The provisions of [N.D.C.C. eh. 28-32] have not been complied with in the proceedings before the agency.
4. The rules or procedure of the agency have not afforded the appellant a fair hearing.
5. The findings of fact made by the agency are not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
6. The conclusions of law and order of the agency are not supported by its findings of fact.
7. The findings of fact made by the agency do not sufficiently address the evidence presented to the agency by the appellant.
8.The conclusions of law and order of the agency do not sufficiently explain the agency’s rationale for not adopting any contrary recommendations by a hearing officer or an administrative law judge.”

N.D.C.C. § 28-32-46.

[¶ 6] “Our review of an agency’s decision is limited; we will not make independent findings of fact or substitute our judgment for that of the agency,” and we will not reverse an agency’s decision unless its findings are not supported by a preponderance of the evidence. J.P. v. Stark County Soc. Servs. Bd., 2007 ND 140, ¶ 9, 737 N.W.2d 627. In considering whether an agency’s findings of fact are supported by a preponderance of the evidence, we decide “only whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have determined that the factual conclusions reached were proved by the weight of the evidence from the entire record.” Power Fuels, Inc. v. Elkin, 283 N.W.2d 214, 220 (N.D.1979). “Questions of law are fully renewable.” Gustafson v. North Dakota Dep’t of Human Servs., 2006 ND 75, ¶ 6, 712 N.W.2d 599.

Ill

[¶ 7] Minnie Makedonsky argues the Department erred in counting assets she gifted to her four daughters through her attorney-in-fact before the applicable look-back period. She asserts the gifts were effective on the date the transfers occurred and not in September 2005, when she signed the statement of intention to ratify the gifts because the ratification related back to the actual date of the transfers. She contends JoAnn Makedonsky was authorized to gift the assets under N.D.C.C. § 30.1-30-06, which allows an attorney-in-fact to make gifts if the attorney-in-fact has authority to perform any [189]*189act the principal may perform. She claims the Department erred in counting the assets gifted by JoAnn Makedonsky to the other three daughters because Minnie Makedonsky had a confidential relationship with only JoAnn Makedonsky and not with the other three daughters.

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Bluebook (online)
2008 ND 49, 746 N.W.2d 185, 2008 N.D. LEXIS 52, 2008 WL 746467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/makedonsky-v-north-dakota-department-of-human-services-nd-2008.