Court Opinion

ID: 7824105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 18:02:59.132743+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:48.885343
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. On March 18,1986, Mrs. Patsy Smith petitioned the Probate Court of Poinsett County for her appointment as guardian of the person and estate of her daughter, Kimberly, and the appointment was made on that same date. The estate included a $30,000 certificate of deposit. Mrs. Smith’s appointment was conditioned on her furnishing a corporate surety bond in the amount of $30,000 or furnishing evidence of an agreement with the bank issuing the CD that no funds would be removed from the CD without prior approval of the probate court, a routine step authorized by Ark. Code Ann. § 28-65-215 (1987). This litigation arises because Mrs. Smith applied to the Department of Human Services (Department) to provide care and residency for Kimberly at the Conway Human Services Center and on June 30, 1986, Kim was accepted. Mrs. Smith requested long term care and assistance and completed a questionnaire which failed to reveal that the assets of Kim’s estate included the $30,000 CD. Based on the nondisclosure of the CD, Kim was declared eligible for Medicaid benefits to which the Department asserts she would not otherwise have been entitled. When the true facts were disclosed in a second questionnaire the following year Medicaid benefits were terminated and reimbursement was requested of the guardian. Mrs. Smith asked for an administrative hearing and the denial of benefits was upheld. Mrs. Smith then appealed to the circuit court where the case is now pending. At this stage in the proceedings, Mrs. Smith filed in the Poinsett Probate Court a pleading entitled “Petition For Order Nunc Pro Tunc” asking the court to determine “nunc pro tunc until June 30,1986,” whether the CD was available for expenses incurred by the Conway facility and for reimbursement of funds received from Medicaid. The probate court reserved judgment on the issue of whether it could enter its order nunc pro tunc, but held without explanation that the funds were inaccessible for payment to, or reimbursement of, the Conway Human Development Center. The Department of Human Services has appealed to this court and the majority now holds that the Probate Court of Poinsett County has exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matter of this dispute, effectively leaving the primary proceedings in limbo. I respectfully disagree with that conclusion and would reverse. It is clear that the “Petition For Order Nunc Pro Tunc” was a maneuver to deprive the circuit court of subject matter jurisdiction over a proceeding which was properly pending before it. It is equally clear that the probate court had no jurisdiction to grant the requested relief, i.e. enter an order “nunc pro tunc until June 30, 1986,” under the guise of a nunc pro tunc procedure. While under ARCP Rule 60(a), clerical mistakes in orders may be corrected at any time, such corrections are plainly limited to matters which were dealt with initially but which were omitted by oversight or mistake. While courts have the inherent authority to enter orders correcting errors, the power is confined to making them conform to the action which was in reality taken at the time. Fitzjarrald v. Fitzjarrald, 233 Ark. 328, 344 S.W.2d 584 (1961). Since it cannot be seriously contended that the probate court did anything on June 30, 1986, the date of Kimberly’s admission at the Conway facility, the relief requested by the guardian, i.e. a nunc pro tunc ruling, was nonexistent under the law. Thus, the guardian’s resort to the probate court was patently to head off the possibility of an adverse determination by the circuit court, which clearly had jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties. While I would not contend the probate court does not ordinarily have jurisdiction to determine how a ward’s estate will be used, in the rather unusual context of this case, I believe the circuit court’s jurisdiction was paramount, and the proper course for the probate court was to defer to the circuit court, at least until that proceeding was concluded. In City of Cabot v. Morgan, 228 Ark. 1084, 312 S.W.2d 333 (1958), this Court has soundly criticized attempts by one court to assume jurisdiction over matters pending in another court where concurrent jurisdiction exists: We condemn the practice of a person after being charged with violating the law . . . then asking for a declaratory judgment in an independent cause, with the result that two cases involving the same subject matter are pending at the same time. If such a practice were permitted, it would cause an unnecessary burden on the courts and the law enforcement authorities. In the New York case of Woollard v. Schaffer Stores Co., reported in 272 N.Y. 304, 5 N.E.2d 829, 832, 109 A.L.R. 1262, 1265, the Court said: 'When, however, another action between the same parties, in which all issues could be determined, is actually pending at the time of the commencement of an action for a declaratory judgment, the court abuses its discretion when it entertains jurisdiction.’ (My emphasis).