Court Opinion

ID: 9596279
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:47:56.970957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:34.695542
License: Public Domain

Thompson, J.,
with whom Mowbray, J., agrees,
dissenting:
Although we grieve for Sarah and her six children, we cannot find that Welfare acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law in denying her application for A.D.C. benefits. NRS 425.120(3). When Sarah first applied she was ineligible since the assessed value of her home exceeded agency limits. Later, she transferred her home to her sister in satisfaction of an alleged debt, and once more applied for benefits. That transfer would not affect eligibility for assistance if made to settle a legally enforceable debt which is a matter of record and has been verified. Welfare Manual Sec. 204.32. We presume that a “record” of the debt contemplates a written acknowledgment of its existence made at or about the time the debt was incurred, and given to the creditor for his or her protection. This requirement is reasonable and apparently is designed to protect Welfare against the act of one who transfers property away in order to become eligible for benefits. No such record of the debt exists in this case. True, Sarah’s sister testified at the agency hearing that she had advanced to Sarah money, goods and services valued at $6,585.59 before receiving Sarah’s home. This testimony, given seven months after the transfer, cannot constitute the “record” contemplated by the regulation. The absence of a record of the debt leads us to presume that the aid supplied to Sarah by her sister was in the nature of a gift prompted by love and affection. Cf. Donato v. Wyman, 303 N.Y.S.2d 935 (1969).
Only the parties to that transfer know of the motivation therefor, and only they are in a position to prove that it was effectuated in good faith. Welfare is helpless to prove otherwise. It can do no more than ask for the “record” of the debt which prompted the transfer, and if such record is nonexistent, assume that the transfer was made solely for the purpose of depleting Sarah’s assets to a point where she would be entitled to benefits. Cf. NRS 427.200(5) of Nevada Old Age Assistance Act; NRS ch. 112, Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act. Perhaps the understandable concern of the majority of this court for the Munger family should be visited, instead, upon *411those families who are without assets which disqualify them for assistance. This, indeed, is the true concern of Welfare.