May v. Leneair

297 N.W.2d 882, 99 Mich. App. 209, 1980 Mich. App. LEXIS 2826

• Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
• Decided: August 11, 1980
• Docket: Docket 78-2766
• Status: Published

Opinions

J. H. Gillis, P. J.

Plaintiff, as guardian of the estate of Lucille Leneair, commenced the present action seeking a judicial declaration as to the validity or invalidity of the defendants’ marriage.

Plaintiff’s complaint alleged the following relevant facts:

That on November 9, 1970, Ms. Leneair was adjudicated to be a mentally incompetent person in an order of the Wayne County Probate Court,

That on July 15, 1975, Ms. Leneair filed a petition in Wayne County Probate Court seeking restoration of her competency,

That on July 18, 1975, the defendants were married,

That on July 16, 1976, at the conclusion of a jury trial held pursuant to Ms. Leneair’s petition, she was found to be then and there mentally incompetent to handle her own affairs, and

That plaintiff believes that the marriage was invalid ab initio and, therefore, seeks a determination of validity or invalidity of the marriage.

On March 17, 1977, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, GCR 1963, 117.2. The motion failed to state which subsection of the rule it was brought under. The motion was granted, the lower court ruling that as a matter of law Ms. Leneair had competency to marry. Plaintiff appeals from the order entered pursuant to that ruling.

An examination of the order granting defendants’ motion shows that the motion was granted because plaintiff failed to state a cause of action. That is the reason set forth in GCR 1963, 117.2(1). Accordingly, we shall review the grant of summary judgment under that subrule.

The standard governing this Court’s review of a grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment based on GCR 1963, 117.2(1) is well settled. The motion is to be tested by the pleadings alone. Todd v Biglow, 51 Mich App 346; 214 NW2d 733 (1974), lv den 391 Mich 816 (1974). The motion tests the legal basis of the complaint, not whether it can be factually supported. Bormans, Inc v Lake State Development Co, 60 Mich App 175; 230 NW2d 363 (1975). The factual allegations of the complaint are taken as true, along with any inferences or conclusions which may fairly be drawn from the facts alleged. Unless the claim is so clearly unenforceable as a matter of law that no factual development can possibly justify a right to recover, the motion under this subrule should be denied. Crowther v Ross Chemical & Manufacturing Co, 42 Mich App 426; 202 NW2d 577 (1972), Partrich v Muscat, 84 Mich App 724, 729-730; 270 NW2d 506 (1978).

MCL 551.6; MSA 25.6 provides in relevant part:

"No person * * * who has been adjudged insane, feeble-minded or an imbecile by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be capable of contracting marriage without, before the issuance by the county clerk of the license to marry, filing in the office of the county clerk a verified certificate from 2 regularly licensed physicians of this state that such person has been cured of such insanity, imbecility or feeble-mindedness.”

It is undisputed that Ms. Leneair never filed the required certificate. It is also undisputed that she had been adjudicated a mental incompetent prior to her marriage. The question becomes whether one who has been adjudicated a mental incompetent falls within the statutory marriage prohibition. The answer is that such a person does.

A mentally incompetent person is one who is so affected mentally as to be deprived of sane and normal action or who lacks sufficient capacity to understand in a reasonable manner the nature and effect of the act he is performing. Dayiantis v Blackhawk, Inc, 33 Mich App 201, 203; 189 NW2d 808 (1971), citing In re Johnson’s Estate, 286 Mich 213; 281 NW 597 (1938).¹ Feeble-mindedness is defined as the least severe grade of mental deficiency, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (Unabridged Lawyers’ Edition 1961), and as a condition of incomplete development of mind of such degree or kind as to render the individual incapable of adjusting himself to his social environment in a reasonably efficient and harmonious manner and to necessitate external care, supervision, or control. 41 Am Jur 2d, Incompetent Persons, § 2, p 542.

Since the Legislature intended to bar one found to be suffering from the least severe grade of mental deficiency, an adjudged feeble-minded person, from marriage, it is reasonable to conclude that they intended to bar those suffering from more severe grades of mentally deficiency from marriage. An examination of the definition of a mentally incompetent person above cited indicates that such a person necessarily falls within the latter class. Accordingly, we hold that an adjudication of mental incompetency is a bar to a subsequent marriage under MCL 551.6; MSA 25.6.

Furthermore, the same result, that an adjudication of mental incompetency bars a subsequent marriage, obtains independently of the statute.

In Acacia Mutual Life Ins Co v Jago, 280 Mich 360, 362; 273 NW 599 (1937), the Supreme Court stated:

"[WJhile an * * * incompetent is under actual and subsisting guardianship of estate, he is conclusively presumed incompetent to make a valid contract.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Marriage is a civil contract to which the consent of parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Yanoff v Yanoff, 237 Mich 383, 387; 211 NW 735 (1927), overruled on other grounds in Serafin v Serafin, 401 Mich 629; 258 NW2d 461 (1977), MCL 551.2; MSA 25.2, 16 Michigan Law & Practice, Marriage, § 4, p 100. Therefore, an adjudicated mental incompetent cannot enter a valid marriage.

The question becomes whether the marriage here, which is prohibited by statute and deemed invalid by case law, is voidable or void. The answer is that it is void.

The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the Legislature. Melia v Employment Security Comm, 346 Mich 544, 562; 78 NW2d 273 (1956). MCL 551.6; MSA 25.6 further provides:

"Any person of sound mind who shall intermarry with such * * * person * * * who has been so adjudged * * * feeble-minded * * * except upon the filing of certificate as herein provided, with knowledge of the disability of such person, or who shall advise, aid, abet, cause, procure or assist in procuring any such marriage contrary to the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony

It is apparent that the objective of the statute is to absolutely prohibit a marriage such as that in the instant case. Thus, in order to best effect that statutory purpose, Lake Carriers’ Ass’n v MacMullan, 91 Mich App 357, 366; 282 NW2d 486 (1979), we hold that the marriage here is void.

In the present case, plaintiff properly alleged the prior adjudication of mental incompetency of Ms. Leneair and her subsequent marriage. He, thus, stated a claim upon which relief, a declaration of the invalidity of the marriage, could be granted. GCR 1963, 117.2(1). The grant of summary judgment was erroneous. The case is remanded to the lower court for a trial on the merits.

The parties attempt to raise additional issues which were presented to the lower court but, due to the granting of summary judgment, were not decided. The Court of Appeals is limited on review to issues decided by the lower court. Norton Shores v Carr, 81 Mich App 715, 723; 265 NW2d 802 (1978), Hernandez v Consumers Power Co, 51 Mich App 288; 214 NW2d 846 (1974).

Reversed and remanded.

Allen, J., concurred.

1 A mentally incompetent person may be one who possesses a high intelligence quotient and who may have completed university training but due to his present state of mind is incapable of rationalizing some of his thoughts or actions.