93-13-67 - Annual accounts; guardian's minimum commission.
§ 93-13-67. Annual accounts; guardian's minimum commission.
Except as herein provided, and as provided in Section 93-13-7, every guardian shall, at least once in each year, and oftener if required, exhibit his account, showing the receipts of money on account of his ward, and showing the annual product of the estate under his management, and the sale or other disposition thereof, and showing also each item of his expenditure in the maintenance and education of his ward and in the preservation and management of his estate, supported by legal vouchers. In the event that the account shall be presented by a bank or trust company which is subject to the supervision of the department of bank supervision of the State of Mississippi or of the comptroller of the currency of the United States and such account, or the petition for the approval of same, shall contain a statement under oath by an officer of said bank or trust company showing that the vouchers covering the disbursements in the account presented are on file with the said bank or trust company, such bank or trust company shall not be required to file vouchers. Provided, however, that said bank or trust company shall produce said vouchers for inspection of any interested party or his or her attorney at any time during legal banking hours at the office of said bank or trust company; and provided, further, that the court on its own motion or on the motion of any interested party may require that said vouchers be produced and inspected at any hearing of any objections to said annual account. And such accounts shall be examined, approved, and allowed by the court in the same way that the accounts of executors and administrators are examined, approved, and allowed. Compliance with the duties required, in this section, of guardian shall be enforced by the same means and in the same manner as is provided in respect to the accounts of executors and administrators.
Provided, however, when the funds and personal property of the ward do not exceed the sum or value of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) and there is no prospect of further receipt to come into the hands of the guardian other than interest thereon, or in guardianships in which the only funds on hand or to be received by the guardian are funds paid or to be paid by the department of public welfare for the benefit of the ward, the chancery court or chancellor in vacation, may, for good cause shown, in his discretion and upon being satisfied it is to the best interest and welfare of the ward, authorize the guardian to dispense with further such annual accounts, except such as may be a final account. Furthermore, the chancery court or chancellor in vacation may so dispense with such annual accounts, if the ward's assets consist solely of funds on deposit at any banking corporation, building and loan association or savings and loan association in this state; have been so deposited under order of the court to remain until otherwise ordered; are fully insured; and a certified copy of the order to deposit, properly receipted, furnished the depository. And, if the court, or chancellor in vacation, shall so authorize the discontinuance of such annual accounts, the guardian may, without further order of the court, from time to time pay the court costs and bond premiums owing by such estate or him as such guardian, and, as well, he may likewise pay such emergency obligations as he may have been empowered and allowed to do by necessity except for this section; but, he shall not pay from guardianship funds, any other sums without further order of such court or chancellor without having first obtained order of the court or chancellor to do so. In the event of any emergency expenditure, as aforesaid, for the immediate and necessary welfare of the ward, the same shall at once be reported to the court, or chancellor in vacation, for approval. Furthermore, the court on its own motion or on the motion of any interested party may require the resumption and continuance of annual accounts, hereunder.
At the time of any such annual account, the court, or a judge thereof in vacation, in its discretion, may allow to the guardian a minimum commission of one hundred dollars ($100.00) per annum for its services, anything in the statutes of this state to the contrary notwithstanding.
Sources: Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 36, art. 1(128); 1857, ch. 60, art. 147; 1871, §§ 1214, 1215; 1880, § 2103; 1892, § 2222; 1906, § 2441; Hemingway's 1917, § 2002; 1930, § 1889; 1942, § 425; Laws, 1960, ch. 217, § 1; Laws, 1962, ch. 273; Laws, 1966, ch. 320, § 1; Laws, 1972, ch. 408, § 13; Laws, 1974, ch. 365, eff from and after passage (approved March 18, 1974).