Peer v. Superior Court

RICHARDS, J. pro tem.* Petitioner seeks review and annulment of an order of the superior court imposing upon her a charge for a portion of the sanitarium care of her husband, George T. Peer, pursuant to the provisions of section 5077 of the Welfare and Institutions Code in connection with proceedings under said code, committing him to a sanitarium as a mentally disordered person.

On September 19, 1955, pursuant to a petition filed under section 5047 of said code alleging petitioner’s husband to be mentally ill, he was found under section 5076 to be mentally disordered and was committed to a sanitarium for care. He was returned to the court for reevaluation on September 24, 1956, at which time the matter was dismissed by the court at the request of petitioner so that she could care for him under the supervision of her own physician. The reports of the counselor in mental health made to the court pursuant to section 5029 of said code, and a part of the record before us, show that on March 26, 1957, petitioner filed an action for divorce against Mr. Peer; that an interlocutory decree of divorce was granted to petitioner by default on May 31, 1957, and that there was no property settlement agreement of record in connection with the divorce proceeding. Thereafter a new petition under section 5047 was filed on July 15, 1957, and on August 8, 1957, Mr. Peer was again found to be mentally disordered and was committed to the care of the counselor in mental health to be placed in a sanitarium. Thereafter on August 15, 1957, a further hearing was had to determine the petitioner’s liability for the cost of her husband's care, at which hearing petitioner was neither present nor represented by counsel, and following which hearing the court made its order under section 5077, determining that the cost for the care of the patient was $120 per month, to be defrayed out of his estate at $69.70 a month, and that the balance of $50.30 a month be a charge upon the petitioner.

Welfare and Institutions Code, section 5076, provides in essence that if the court finds a person to be “mentally disordered and bordering on mental illness” it may “commit him to be placed in a suitable home, sanitarium, or rest haven home, subject to the provisions of the counselor in mental health and the further order of the court.” The pertinent provision of section 5077 provides that ‘ ‘ [t] he reasonable cost of maintenance of a person committed under the provisions [479]of section 5076, in a sum to be fixed by the court at the time of the commitment, shall be defrayed out of the estate of the patient so committed, or shall be a charge upon his relatives liable for his maintenance(Emphasis added.)