JANE HOOKS STEVENS, CURATOR OF THE ESTATE OF: NELL WILHITE HOOKS, APPELLANT,
v.
NELL WILHITE HOOKS, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1960-12-21
No. 1937
SHANNON, J., and SMITH, CULVER, Associate Judge, concur.
125 So. 2d 581 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1960) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

A curator of an incompetent ward's estate was found by the lower court to have mismanaged funds by commingling them with personal funds and investing in speculative stocks. On appeal, the curator challenged the court's authority to examine approved accountings and to review transactions prior to the final accounting, but the appellate court affirmed the lower court's findings and order.


Holding

The court affirmed that previously approved accountings by a guardian or curator are not conclusive and may be reopened; the court has discretion to examine accounts itself or appoint an auditor per Florida law; and the lower court properly found the curator liable for mismanaging the estate through commingling funds and investing in non-income-producing speculative stocks.


Key Quotes

“The approval by the county judge of the guardian's annual account is not the equivalent of a judgment which may not be collaterally attacked by the ward or some one in his behalf. The rule is that annual or partial accounts of a guardian, although approved by the court, have not the force and effect of a final judgment and are in no sense conclusive of the correctness thereof unless made so by statute.”

Establishes that approved guardian accounts are not conclusive and may be reopened and re-examined by the court, rejecting the curator's argument that prior approval prevented further review.

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Facts & Procedural History

Jane Hooks Stevens was appointed curator of her mother Nell Wilhite Hooks's estate of approximately $40,000 in 1950 after the mother was found incompe…

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Opinion of the Court
ALLEN, Chief Judge.

ALLEN, Chief Judge.

The appellant, Jane Hooks Stevens, is the only child of appellee, Nell Wilhite Hooks. On petition filed December 20, 1950, for inquest of incompetency of the appellee, the court found appellee to be incompetent and appellant was named curator of appellee’s estate, which consisted of some $40,000 that appellee had inherited from her brother.

The appellant filed her first report on December 4, 1951, which was approved by the court some two years later. Two supplemental reports were approved which were filed December 18, 1954 and January 18, 1956. The last report covered transactions up to October 5, 1955. From that date until October 7, 1959, no reports were filed.

On October 21, 1959, the appellee filed a petition for the discharge of the Curator alleging that she had regained her competency; she also petitioned the court that *582the appellant be removed as Curator and a new one appointed should the appellee be found incompetent as the appellant had failed to properly manage the appellee’s estate. Two doctors appointed by the court recommended that appellee be restored to her competent status and on December 16, 1959, the court entered an order restoring the status of legal competence to the appellee but reserved jurisdiction relating to alleged mishandling of funds by appellant.

The lower court found that the Curator had comingled the funds of the appellee with her own funds and had bought highly speculative stocks, the value of which had been greatly depreciated, and entered an order against the appellant on her failure to properly account for funds which she held belonging to the appellee.

The appellant argues that she had a file showing a proper accounting which, however, this court cannot consider as none of the accounting of this file appears in evidence in this case.

The appellant, by neither assignments of error nor argument in her brief, questions the court’s conclusion that she mismanaged the appellee’s estate or that she comingled the estate’s funds with her own and invested in non-income producing stocks; her argument being that the court could not consider anything that had taken place prior to the accounting previously entered.

The Supreme Court of Florida in the case of Firmin v. Sanborn, 119 Fla. 396, 161 So. 555, 557, cited by the appellant, in its opinion, said:

“The approval by the county judge of the guardian’s annual account is not the equivalent of a judgment which may not be collaterally attacked by the ward or some one in his behalf. The rule is that annual or partial accounts of a guardian, although approved by the court, have not the force and effect of a final judgment and are in no sense conclusive of the correctness thereof unless made so by statute. See 28 C.J. 1239.”

The appellant further argues that the circuit court erred in making its own independent examination of the final accounting filed by the Curator without having an audit made by a court appointed auditor. We find no merit in this contention. Florida Statutes, Section 747.16, sub-paragraphs (1) and (2), F.SA., specifically provide that the court may examine or audit the accounts or may appoint an examiner or auditor to examine or audit such accounts and report thereon the results to the court.

Finding no error in the record before us, we must affirm the order of the lower court.

Affirmed.

SHANNON, J., and SMITH, CULVER, Associate Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • In re Guardianship OF Iva Mae Palmer White, 140 So. 2d 311 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962)
    …prima facie evidence of their correctness if made in conformity with the statutes. American Surety Co. of New York v. Andrews, 152 Fla. 638, 12 So. 2d 599 (1943); Firmin v. Sanborn, 119 Fla. 396, 161 So. 555 (1935).” In Stevens v. Hooks (Fla.1960), 125 So. 2d 581, the Florida District Court of Appeal held that the .annual accounts there involved, which had been previously approved by order of court, were subject to re-examination. Section 745.26, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides: “(1) Upon the filing of…
  • McGINNIS v. Ilya Petrovich Kanevsky, 564 So. 2d 1141 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …rce and effect of a final judgment and are in no sense conclusive of the correctness thereof unless made so by statute. They are, however, prima facie evidence of their correctness if made in conformity with the statutes. See also Stevens v. Hooks, 125 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960) (same). I do not believe that the position I take today would, as Chief Judge Schwartz fears, allow anxious potential heirs to challenge the spending habits of their incompetent relatives. In this narrow factual scenario, where t…

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