Opinion
No. 32232
Decided February 28, 1951.
Aid for aged — Payments a preferred claim against recipient's estate — Action to recover back — Section 1359-7, General Code (122 Ohio Laws, 663) — Liability of widow's estate for payments made to husband — Statute not retroactive.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga county.
One Frank Pangersic applied to the Division of Aid for the Aged, Department of Public Welfare, for aid and assistance which was allowed and paid to him from January 1939 to March 1945, in monthly payments totaling $1,740.10. The recipient died in April 1945, survived by his widow.
This action was instituted by the Division of Aid for the Aged against the executrix of the widow's estate to recover from her estate the above-named sum.
The petition setting forth the above facts was demurred to on the ground that it did not state facts which show a cause of action. The demurrer was overruled and, defendant not desiring to plead further, judgment was entered for plaintiff for the amount above named.
The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment for error in overruling the demurrer, remanded the cause to the trial court for further proceedings, and ordered that court to sustain the demurrer.
Mr. Herbert S. Duffy, attorney general, and Mr. Thomas C. Flanigan, Jr., for appellant.
Mr. Leopold Kushlan and Mr. A.J. Frank, for appellee.
Recovery in this case is dependent upon the application to the facts herein of Section 1359-7, General Code, as amended (122 Ohio Laws, 663) effective September 26, 1947, which reads in part:
"Upon the death of a person the total amount of aid paid to said person or to his spouse or either or both of them under this act shall be a preferred claim against the estate of such deceased person."
Prior to such amendment, the estate of the widow would not have been liable for the aid paid to her husband. Division of Aid for Aged v. Hogan, Admr., 143 Ohio St. 186, 54 N.E.2d 781.
Thus the question presented is whether the section as amended operates retroactively.
This court is of the opinion that the statute does not operate retroactively to make liable an estate of a deceased spouse of a recipient where the aid was paid prior to the effective date of such amended statute.
Judgment affirmed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, MIDDLETON, MATTHIAS and HART, JJ., concur.