Court Opinion

ID: 9546848
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:36:33.177036+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:56.878005
License: Public Domain

SCHAUER, J.
I dissent.
In guardianship as well as in divorce proceedings the law, as enacted by the Legislature, requires that the courts give controlling effect to the best interests of the minor child. (Prob. Code, § 1405; Civ. Code, § 138.) The paramount issue in this case, if the law were followed, would be simply .- Would the guardianship for which Richard petitions best serve his temporal and mental and moral welfare? (See Prob. Code, § 1406.)
If upon the evidence the best interests of the child would best be served by the appointment of a guardian of his person then it would follow as a matter of law that it was “necessary or convenient,” within the meaning of section 1440 of the Probate Code, that a guardian be appointed. But by this decision the majority of this court advance another harsh step in their consistent and regrettable refusal to give effect to modern and enlightened legislation for child welfare. (See Stewart v. Stewart (1953), ante, pp. 447, 453-454 [260 P.2d 44] ; Guardianship of Smith (1953) (Cal.) (rehearing granted) [255 P.2d 761, 767-771] ; and Roche v. Roche (1944), 25 Cal.2d 141, 144-149 [152 P.2d 999].)
Again this court places reliance upon and follows the dark view that as against parents a child is a mere chattel. It *646cites Guardianship of Salter (1904), 142 Cal. 412 [76 P. 51], which in turn cites as its sole authority In re Campbell (1900), 130 Cal. 380 [62 P. 613]. The Campbell ease, as pointed out in my dissent in Roche v. Roche (1944), supra, 25 Cal.2d 141, 145, declares the governing theory that the parent’s right to custody (and earnings) of a child is (p. 382 of 130 Cal.) “like the right of the child in the father — a right vested in him for his own benefit, and of which it would be a personal injury to deprive him. The right must therefore be regarded as coming within the reason, if not within the strict letter, of the constitutional provisions for the protection of property. ...” In truth, this court now aggrandizes the theory of the Campbell case: It holds that the petitioner child here is not even entitled to a hearing upon the question as to whether his temporal and mental and moral welfare will best be served by granting his petition but hastens to preserve the importance of property considerations by adding the statement that “Where a minor owns property, that fact is ordinarily sufficient to support a finding that the appointment of a guardian of the minor’s estate is ‘necessary or convenient,’ and the preference of the minor, if fourteen years old, prevails over the objection of any person, including the parent, provided that the nominee is found to be suitable. ’ ’ The view I seek to emphasize is that the Legislature by its enactments has shown at least equal concern for the “temporal and mental and moral welfare” of the child as for his property rights, yet this court while punctilious in upholding the latter, strikes down the former.
The Salter case, relied on here, says of In re Campbell, supra (pp. 413-414 of 142 Cal.): “In that case, which was also a contest between maternal grandparents and a father for the guardianship of his infant son [incidentally, under the age of 14 years], the lower court found that it was for the best interests — the temporal mental and moral welfare — of the minor that it be awarded to its grandfather. On appeal from such order this court, after pointing out that in an application for appointment of a guardian in a special proceeding such as the one at bar a court has no unlimited discretion to appoint a guardian for a minor other than the father, even if in its opinion the interest of the minor would be thereby subserved, proceeds to discuss the provisions of the code under which the applications in both that case and this were heard and disposed of. After referring to said [former] section 1751 [of the Code of Civil Procedure], . . . the court says, in reversing the order [quoting from p. 383 of 130 Cal.] : *647‘. . . the section is to be construed as if it read that the father or mother is to be appointed “if not found by the court incompetent,” etc. The fact of competency or incompetency of the father was therefore the controlling question in this case; and as there is no finding on the point, the findings must be regarded as insufficient to support the order appealed from. ’
“So in the case at bar the controlling question was the competency or incompetency of the father, and as the lower court expressly found that he was competent, that was the end of the matter, as far as the power of the court to appoint the grandmother as guardian was concerned, because the court was without authority, under the terms of section 1751, after finding the father competent, to appoint any other person than the father as guardian of his child.
“Nor is the right of the father, he being competent, to have the custody and control of his child at all affected by the finding of the court relative to the health of the child, and the better opportunity he would have for fresh air and exercise at the home of his grandmother than at the residence of his father.”
By the instant decision the court even denies to the minor the right to have the issue as to his best interests determined. In the Campbell and Salter and Boche and Smith and Stewart cases the court wrote into the statutes words which the Legislature had not inserted; here the court in effect strikes the words “or convenient” out of the statutory provision that “The superior court shall appoint a general guardian of the . . . person or estate, of minors . . . whenever necessary or convenient . . .” (Prob. Code, § 1405; italics added.) It appears that the trial court did not think the word “convenient” had any significance in relation to the right of the petitioner. The record shows the court’s statement in this regard: “Now, on the face of the record I cannot say that I find it necessary. It might always be convenient, but I cannot say that it is necessary by reason of anything that is occurring or has occurred where he [petitioner] now exists1 insofar as the home of his mother is concerned.”
The barest outline of the facts in this case — the placing of this boy in the home of his mother and stepfather with three other children, one of such children being older than petitioner and the child of his stepfather and the two others being younger and the children of his mother and stepfather, *648coupled with the boy’s love for his own father and his father’s mother — show a case which as a matter of law entitled him to have his petition determined on its merits. It could only be determined on its merits by finding whether his interests would best be served by the appointment of the guardian whom he sought. If the finding in this respect were favorable, and his nominee was a fit and proper person (as was found), then he was entitled to an order granting his petition. The mere conclusional finding (that because the boy had a place in the home of his mother and stepfather it was not “necessary or convenient” to appoint a guardian for him) upon which the trial court and the majority here dispose of this case, begs the real issue. In fact, disposition of this case on that ground denies to Richard his day in court on the real issue.
For further and adequate discussion of this case reference is made to, and I adopt, the decision prepared for the District Court of Appeal by Justice Goodell and concurred in by Presiding Justice Nourse, reported at 254 P.2d 960.
The judgment should be reversed and the case tried on its merits.

Perusal of the entire record indicates that the use of the word "exists,” rather than "lives,” is probably accurate diction.