NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 564

HOUSE BILL 468

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND PORTIONS OF THE VETERANS GUARDIANSHIP ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC GUARDIANS, MINIMUM COMPENSATION FOR GUARDIANS AND INVESTMENT OF FUNDS BY GUARDIANS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 34-4, as the same appears in the 1966 Replacement Volume 2A, is hereby rewritten so as to read as follows:

"§ 34-4.  Guardian May Not be Named for More Than Five Wards; Exceptions; Banks and Trust Companies, Public Guardians, or Where Wards are Members of the Same Family. It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a public guardian qualified under Article 6, Chapter 33, General Statutes of North Carolina, to accept appointment as guardian of any United States Veterans Administration ward, if such person shall at the time of such appointment be acting as guardian for five wards. For the purpose of this Section, all minors of same family unit shall constitute one ward. In all appointments of a public guardian for United States Veterans Administration wards, the guardian shall furnish a separate bond for each appointment as required by G.S. 34-9. If, in any case, an attorney for the United States Veterans Administration presents a petition under this Section alleging that an individual guardian other than a public guardian is acting in a fiduciary capacity for more than five wards and requesting discharge of the guardian for that reason, then the Court, upon satisfactory evidence that the individual guardian is acting in a fiduciary capacity for more than five wards, must require a final accounting forthwith from such guardian and shall discharge the guardian in such case. Upon the termination of a public guardian's term of office, he may be permitted to retain any appointments made during his term of office.

"This Section shall not apply to banks and trust companies licensed to do trust business in North Carolina."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 34-12, as the same appears in the 1966 Replacement Volume 2A, is hereby amended by changing the period at the end of the first sentence thereof to a comma and adding the following:

"except that the Court may approve compensation in the accounting in an amount not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00) from an estate where the income for any one year is less than five hundred dollars ($500.00)."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 34-13(3), as the same appears in the 1966 Replacement Volume 2A, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence at the end thereof:

"Any guardian may encumber the home or farm so purchased for the entire purchase price or balance thereof to enable the ward to obtain benefits provided in Title 38, U.S. Code, Chapter 37, upon petition to and order of the Clerk of Superior Court of the county of appointment of said guardian and approved by the resident or presiding Judge of the Superior Court. Notice of hearing on such petition, together with copy of the petition, shall be given to the United States Veterans Administration and the North Carolina Department of Veterans Affairs by mail not less than 15 days prior to the date fixed for the hearing."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 34-13(5), as the same appears in the 1966 Replacement Volume 2A, is hereby amended by changing the period at the end thereof to a comma and by adding the following:

"to the extent that such investment is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation."

Sec. 5.  Wherever in Chapter 34 of the General Statutes the words "North Carolina Veterans Commission" appears, the same shall be stricken out and the words "North Carolina Department of Veterans Affairs" inserted in lieu thereof.

Sec. 6.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 7.  This Act shall be effective from and after July 1, 1967.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of May, 1967.