Case Title: Rabuse v. Rabuse

Citation: 231 N.W.2d 493

Docket Number: 

State: minnesota

Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Date: 1975-07-03T00:00:00Z

Document:
231 N.W.2d 493 (1975) William Joseph RABUSE, Petitioner, v. Patricia Mae RABUSE, Respondent. No. 45607. Supreme Court of Minnesota. July 3, 1975. Kelly & Finley, David W. Nord and James F. Finley, St. Paul, for petitioner. Meier, Kennedy & Quinn, William C. Meier, and Gordon W. Shumaker, St. Paul, for respondent. Heard at Special Term by ROGOSHESKE, KELLY, and TODD, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc. PER CURIAM. The subject for consideration comes to this court upon a petition for a writ of prohibition. *494 During the trial of the parties' action and counterclaim for divorce, it was revealed that over a period of time the paternal grandfather had bestowed upon the five children of the marriage various amounts of personal property consisting of money and securities. Such gifts had been made through their father pursuant to Minn.St. c. 527, Uniform Gifts to Minors Act. Prior to the conclusion of the trial, the parties settled their individual property disputes and the wife was granted custody of the children and a divorce. Upon a motion made by the wife during the course of the trial, presumably in response to the husband's specific request for the court to declare that she had no interest in the funds and property held by him as custodian for the children, the court made as a finding of fact the following: The trial court issued an order appointing a member of the bar as guardian ad litem for the children. The order instructed the guardian to investigate and prepare an accounting with respect to the children's funds held by the father as custodian. Upon the challenge by the father as to the validity of the order, this court issued a temporary writ. On this review, the mother urges that courts may exercise their jurisdiction for protection of infants even if they are not parties to the litigation. The father's challenge to the issuance of the order is based upon the claim that statutory provisions relating to divorce do not authorize the court to investigate the misdealings by a parent of the children's separate property, and more particularly, it is urged that the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act provides within its terms a remedy. Minn.St. 527.08. Section 527.08 reads as follows: The provision of subd. 2 which states "[t]he court, in a proceeding under this chapter or otherwise," makes it clear that the legislature recognized the existence in the courts of a broad jurisdiction for the protection of infants. The enforcement procedure prescribed in the uniform act is clearly not exclusive and is not limited to a proceeding under the act. The doctrine of protective power in the courts for infants has been expressed in many decisions and is summarized in 42 Am.Jur.2d, Infants, § 22, as follows: That this court has recognized the protective power of the courts with regard to infants is made clear in Anderson v. Anderson, 260 Minn. 226, 230, 109 N.W.2d 571, 575 (1961): An accounting may be demanded as provided in the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act. However, this would necessitate the starting of a new proceeding with resulting delays. We hold that the trial judge's direct approach is not only within the inherent protective power of the court but provides a speedier and somewhat less expensive manner of accomplishing the desired protection. Accordingly, the writ is quashed.