Court Opinion

ID: 9697008
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:03:39.08879+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:28.521727
License: Public Domain

*284Dieterich, J.
{dissenting).! must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. A minor has no standing before the law. He must be represented by a guardian if his interests, privileges, and rights are to be made secure. The statutes are designed to protect minors and should be construed toward that end. The result in this case leaves the minor defenseless against the defalcations of his guardian when the guardian’s bond is insufficient to cover those defalcations. Public policy demands a better answer.
The executor or administrator of an estate serves in a fiduciary capacity. With the common-law concepts of a fiduciary in mind it would not put an unreasonable strain upon the statutes to hold that they require such fiduciary to ascertain whether a guardian’s bond is sufficient before transferring a minor’s property to that guardian. Any other result, it seems to me, is unconscionable and gives insufficient weight to the declared public policy of requiring property protection for minors and incompetents.