Court Opinion

ID: 9772663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:25:25.194345+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:46.691732
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING:
PER CURIAM.
In its motion for rehearing appellant misconceives the effect of our opinion, contending it requires appellant in conducting hearings in public assistance cases to exercise equity jurisdiction belonging only to a court by establishing and enforcing a trust or by determining contractual or property rights as betiveen individuals.
The legislature by statute, Section 208.010 RSMo. 1959, V.A.M.S., has clearly stated what appellant is to do, i. e., determine “the eligibility of a claimant for public assistance”, and states that “In determining the eligibility of a claimant for public assistance under this law, it shall be the duty of the division of welfare to consider and take into account all facts and circumstances surrounding the claimant, including his living conditions, earning capacity, income and resources * *
Of course appellant cannot undertake to enter a judgment or decree as a court, determining who owns a piece of land, which judgment or decree would be binding on not only the claimant for public assistance but on others who might claim an interest in the land. This is true whether the issue of title or “resources” turns on evidence of “record title”, legal rules or equitable rules.
Yet appellant can and daily does determine as between appellant and a claimant the question of his eligibility for public assistance. In making such a determination appellant does have to make incidental determinations concerning a claimant’s “earning capacity, income and resources” in order to determine the ultimate fact of his eligibility or lack of eligibility for public assistance. These incidental determinations of resources and income have no legal effect on anyone other than the claimant in his claim for p-ublic assistance, and then only as an incidental determination or consideration of “facts and circumstances surrounding claimant” pertinent to his economic status.
As the statute declares, appellant must “consider and take into account all facts and circumstances”, and not deliberately limit itself to a consideration of only those facts or circumstances which it believes involve the application of “legal rules” as contrasted with “equitable rules”. If a claimant did not have “legal” or “record” title but was the beneficial owner of valuable property his beneficial interest is a pertinent fact and circumstance bearing on his eligibility. As stated in 81 C.J.S. Social Security and Public Welfare § 18, page 44: “ * * * the word ‘resources’ has been held to mean any property which the applicant owns legally or beneficially(Emphasis ours.) Thus equitable rules are applied in determining a claimant is not eligible because he is the beneficial owner of resources in excess of the minimum permitted. Equitable rules are equally applicable in determining a claimant is eligible for public assistance. See, 42 Am.Jur., Public Administrative Law, Section 58, page 365; Red Rover Copper Co. v. Industrial Commission, 58 Ariz. 203, 118 P.2d 1102, 137 A.L.R. 740; Ames v. Dept. of Labor and Industries, 176 Wash. 509, 30 P.2d 231, 91 A.L.R. 1392.
Appellant also contends this applicant (and presumably all applicants for public assistance with a similar problem) should first engage in litigation in the circuit courts to establish any pertinent fact concerning his economic status that might involve “equitable” considerations and to there disavow and disclaim any interest in income or resources that an application of purely legal as opposed to equitable rules might show belong to him, including obtaining a court order setting aside any instrument of record such as that here involved.
*29We do not find anything in the statute suggesting or requiring that a claimant for public assistance, presumably a poor person in advanced years, must first go to the expense and delay involved in employing legal counsel and engaging in litigation, requiring possibly more than one lawsuit, to establish “facts and circumstances surrounding the applicant, including his earning capacity, income and resources” (his economic situation). On the contrary the legislature throughout the entire act has evidenced regard for our elderly poor and obviously intended to establish a complete, inexpensive, and reasonably quick procedure for determining an applicant’s eligibility for public assistance. This it did when it gave appellant authority to hear and determine from all the facts the question of eligibility for public assistance. It amply protected the public’s interest by also giving appellant the right to weigh the evidence and to determine the credibility of witnesses.