Title: ABBOTT, ADMRX. v. Dept. of Public Welfare

State: indiana

Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court

Document:

243 Ind. 596 (1963)
189 N.E.2d 417
ABBOTT, ADMINISTRATRIX ETC.
v.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE ET AL.
No. 30,144.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed April 8, 1963.
*597 Hubert E. Wickens and Wickens & Wickens, of counsel, of Greensburg, for appellants.
Edwin K. Steers, Attorney General, Gordon R. Medlicott, Deputy Attorney General, and Ronald Beard, of Greensburg, for appellees.
JACKSON, C.J.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Decatur Circuit Court determining the priority of claims in a decedent's estate; it also involved expenses of decedent's funeral and Welfare Department claims.
The issues, which were tried to the court without the intervention of a jury, were formed by the administratrix's petition for allowance of claims and instructions, and the answer and objection of the State Department of Public Welfare. In the interest of time and brevity we set out the petition and the answers and objection, omitting therefrom the formal parts thereof.
Thereafter, on May 28, 1960, the court entered the following order:
Thereafter, on July 27, 1960, petitioner filed her motion for a new trial on the following grounds:
*601 On June 27, 1961, appellant's motion for a new trial was overruled, and this appeal followed. Appellant's sole assignment of error is:
The gist of the controversy to be here determined, is whether or not the appellant administratrix was, as a matter of law, limited to the expenditure of no more than two hundred dollars [$200.00] for decedent's funeral, as provided by Acts 1936, (Spec. Sess.), ch. 3, § 45, as added by Acts 1947, ch. 144, § 3, p. 447; 1953, ch. 153, § 2, p. 542, being § 52-1214, Burns' 1962 Cum. Supp.; or whether such administratrix, under the provisions of § 1409 of the Probate Code [Acts 1953, ch. 112, § 1409, p. 295; 1955, ch. 258, § 5, p. 667, being § 7-809, Burns' 1962 Cum.Supp.], had discretion to determine what constituted "reasonable funeral expenses."
Appellant alleges inter alia, that § 45 of the Welfare Act, supra, as to decedent's estate, was repealed by implication on adoption of the Indiana Probate Code. Acts 1953, ch. 112, § 102, p. 295, being § 6-102, Burns' 1953 Replacement.
Section 1409 of the Probate Code was amended in 1955 [Acts 1955, ch. 258, § 5, p. 667, being § 7-809, Burns' 1962 Cum. Supp.], and in pertinent part reads as follows:
In reading § 1409, supra, several matters are of importance.
On that subject is has been said:
The Probate Code, enacted for the protection of the public, the fiduciaries and persons having claims against an estate and heirs, is an act to control all probate proceedings in the State of Indiana. The 1955 amendment of the Probate Code directing the payment of "reasonable funeral expenses" authorizes and directs the personal representative to incur such expenses, so long as the same remain reasonable, and makes no effort to fix the amount. Such amendment, also by implication, repeals the part of the Welfare Act in conflict with the Probate Code.
It is further to be observed that the wording of the Probate Code expressly provides direct priority for certain matters; and in exact language as to the classification of priorities after costs of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, allowance to the surviving widow, priority under the law of the United States and medical expenses, it then requires payment *604 of "all debts and taxes having preference under the laws of this state."
We are of the opinion that in the case at bar the administratrix was entitled to use her discretion in determining what constituted "reasonable funeral expenses."
The judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the cause is remanded with instructions to grant appellants' motion for a new trial and for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
Other questions raised in this appeal will probably not arise on the new trial and are not here decided.
Achor, Arterburn, Myers and Landis, JJ., concur.
NOTE.  Reported in 189 N.E.2d 417.