Veterans' Home v. Chambers

Opinion

ELKINGTON, J. The sole issue presented on this consolidated appeal is the constitutionality of Military and Veterans Code sections 1035, 1035.05, 1035.1, 1035.3 and 1038, hereafter sometimes called the “statutes.” (Specific statutory references, unless otherwise stated, will be to the Military and Veterans Code.)

There is a Veterans’ Home of California (§ 1011) which is maintained for certain aged and disabled veterans (§ 1012) who are “unable to pay for necessary hospital and domiciliary care outside of the home” (§ 1012.1). The home maintains a “post fund” which is used “to provide for the general welfare of the home and its members to include but not limited to providing for operations of the Veterans’ Home Exchange, motion picture theater, library, band, and to pay for newspapers, chapel expenses, welfare and entertainment expenses, sport activities, celebrations, and to pay for any necessary insurance to protect property of the fund or the Veterans’ Home Exchange, or any other activity for the benefit of the home or its members.” (§ 1047.) The post fund includes, among other things, “profits from operation of the Veterans’ Home Exchange and post fund operations, all donations to the fund and any moneys or property described in” the statutes here under consideration, sections 1035, 1035.05, 1035.1, 1035.3 and 1038. Sums in excess of $100,000 received by the post fund in any one year are paid into the state’s general fund. (§ 1048.)

Section 1035 provides: “All moneys and other personal property of any veteran held by the home, or by its authority, or which is left by such veteran upon the premises of the home, shall, upon the death of the veteran, be held by the home in trust to be paid or delivered by the home upon proof deemed to be proper to the manager, directly and without probate, to the spouse, children, grandchildren, or father or mother of the veteran; [414]provided, that the manager is hereby empowered to disburse funds of any deceased veteran for payment of funeral expenses or any obligation owed to the home.”

Section 1035.05, as relevant to our discussion, states: “All moneys and other personal property of any veteran other than that described in Section 1035 of this code shall, upon the death of such veteran, in the absence of spouse, children, grandchildren, or father or mother pass and descend to and become the property of the Veterans’ Home of California for credit to the post fund thereof. If the total value of such property in the State of Calfornia . . . does not exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000), the Veterans’ Home shall be entitled, without procuring letters of administration or awaiting the probate of any will, to collect any money due the decedent, receive the property of the decedent . . . upon furnishing ... an affidavit showing the right of the Veterans’ Home to receive such money or property . . . .”