Opinion ID: 1809453
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether Tolliver's public official's bond should with USF & G provide coverage as surety on Melson's conservatorship.

Text: ¶ 34. The chancellor specifically ordered that Tolliver would be appointed temporary conservator for Melson and that his public official's bond would stand as surety. USF & G argues that for it to incur any liability for acts committed by Tolliver as conservator of Melson's assets, those actions must have been contemplated by the parties at the time the public official's bond was executed and included under the bond's clear and unambiguous terms. USF & G's position is that the public bond only covers Tolliver's performance or nonperformance of the duties of his office. In order for the surety to be held liable under its public official's bond, the official's act or omission must be within the scope or duties of his office. United States Fid. & Guar. Co. v. State ex rel. Stringfellow, 254 Miss. 812, 182 So.2d 919, 922 (1966); see also McCoy v. Key, 155 Miss. 64, 123 So. 873 (1929); Dean v. Brannon, 139 Miss. 312, 104 So. 173 (1925). ¶ 35. USF & G cites Miss.Code Ann. §§ 9-5-137 (Supp.2001) and 9-5-141 (1991) as a listing of the duties of a chancery clerk. Miss.Code Ann. § 9-5-137 provides: It shall be the duty of the clerk to preserve and keep all records, files, papers and proceedings belonging to his office, and to record all last wills and testaments which may be probated; all letters testamentary, of administration, and guardianship; all accounts allowed; all inventories, appraisements, and reports duly returned; all instruments which are duly proved, and by which law are required to be recorded in his office, in well-bound books to be kept for that purpose, each class in a separate book or books, or by means of electronic filing or storage or both in addition to or in lieu of any such physical records as provided in Section 9-1-51 through 9-1-57, as the clerk may elect; all records shall be properly indexed. He shall issue all process which may be required of him by law or by order of the court, or the chancellor in vacation; and shall discharge all other duties which may be required of him by law, or which properly appertain to the duties of his office. The clerk shall be under the direction of the court in term time, and of the chancellor in vacation. Furthermore, Miss.Code. Ann. § 9-5-141 provides: The clerk or his deputy may at any time receive and file all bills, partitions, motions, accounts, inventories, reports, or other papers offered for that purpose, and may issue all process authorized by law and proper in any matter or proceeding. He may also at any time, in term time or vacation, perform the following functions; issue warrants of appraisement to appraise the personal estate of decedents; allow and register claims against estates being administered in the court of which he is clerk; make all orders and issue all process necessary for the collection and preservation of estates of decedents, minors, and persons of unsound mind; appoint some person to collect and preserve the estate of any decedent in the state in any case provided for; grant letters of administration to the husband or wife, or other person entitled thereto; take the proof of wills, admits wills to probate, in common form, grant letters testamentary, letters of administration with the will annexed and de bonis non; appoint guardians for minors, persons of unsound mind, and convicts of felony; grant letters of administration; institute suits in cases provided for, and, whenever an appeal shall be taken from the grant of letters testamentary, of administration, or guardianship, appoint some fit person to discharge duties pending the appeal. He may do all such other acts as are provided by law and by the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. ¶ 36. USF & G argues that the duties of a chancery clerk set forth above do not include serving as conservator over the assets of a physically incapacitated ward. The chancellor appointed Tolliver temporary conservator of Melson due to the fact that her original conservator had a conflict serving in that capacity. The lower court ruled that Thomas C. Tolliver, Jr., is a fit and proper person to serve in that capacity under his current public bond. Despite the chancellor's ruling, USF & G argues that they never agreed that Tolliver's public official's bond would stand as surety. USF & G contends that Tolliver's appointment was not based on his position as a chancery clerk and that no proof was submitted to prove that no one else was qualified to serve as conservator for Melson other than Tolliver. ¶ 37. Miss.Code Ann. § 93-13-251 (1994) provides: If a person by reason of advanced age, physical incapacity or mental weakness is incapable of managing his own estate, the chancery court of the county wherein such person resides may, upon the petition of such person or of one or more of his friends or relatives, appoint a conservator to have charge and management of the property of such person, and if the court deems it advisable, also to have charge and custody of the person subject to the direction of the appointing court. ¶ 38. Additionally, Miss.Code Ann. § 93-13-21 (1994) provides for appointment of the chancery clerk when no guardian will qualify. Miss.Code Ann. § 93-13-21 states: If someone will not qualify as guardian of a ward who has property, it shall be the duty of the chancery court or the chancellor in vacation to appoint the clerk of said court to be the guardian of the ward, who shall discharge the duties of guardian, under the order and direction of the court, and be subject to be dealt with as for a contempt for failure. He shall be required to give a special cumulative bond as guardian, and his official bond shall also cover his liability as guardian, and he shall; but he shall not be bound to incur any cost, except out of the estate of his ward; and he shall be allowed not more than ten percent (10%) on the amount of the estate, if finally settled. At the expiration of his right to the office, he shall make a settlement of his guardianship, and immediately deliver the property of the ward to his successor in office or to such other person as the court or chancellor may have directed. ¶ 39. This Court in Faust v. Murphy, 71 Miss. 120, 13 So. 862 (1893), stated: Where the chancery clerk has been appointed guardian, if no specified bond be required of him, the code provisions control, and his official bond will stand as security for the ward. ¶ 40. We find that the trial court did not err in appointing Tolliver to serve as conservator subject to his public official's bond. Therefore, this issue is without merit.