TIP #149 GUARDIANS & WARDS, ALIMONY AND POOR WIDOWS The laws covering guardians and their wards were based on an act of 1797 and parts of a Virginia law. When it came to orphans, the county court had full jurisdiction to appoint guardians whenever they thought it necessary. They could also commit the orphan's estate to themselves with security. The special rules were as follows: 1. Any father, even if he was not yet 21 years of age, could, by will or deed grant the custody and tuition of his unmarried child (even if not yet born) during any part of that child's infancy to whoever he chose. 2. The county court in their jurisdiction was to have power, from time to time, to control these named guardians and to require surety of them. They investigated any matters of neglect, mismanagement or any other matter that would affect the child. They could name another guardian in any of the above difficulties. 3. The guardian had to deliver to the court an inventory, sworn to under oath, of the estate that they have received in the name of their ward and it was to be recorded in a separate book. Once a year, the guardian had to appear in court (in August primarily) and give account of the produce of the estate, any sales and disposition of produce (crops) and disbursements. These were audited by the court. Their findings were noted in the book. If the court felt that the guardian was failing in his responsibilities, they could require the guardian to give additional security. If the guardian refused to deliver an inventory and accounting, he could be replaced after the issuance of a summons by the sheriff. 4. If the disbursements of the guardian exceeded the profits of the estate in any year, the balance, after taking out the court costs, could be put out to interest for the benefit of the ward. 5. The estate of a guardian, if not under a lien, would, after his death, be liable for whatsoever might be due from him on account of his guardianship before any other debt could be paid. If there was an instance when the claim of an infant ward interfered with the claims of other persons, it was lawful for the guardian of the infant to settle each dispute with the proprietor of the interfering claims by arbitration of the laws in effect. 6. Poor orphans, i.e., those without an estate, or an insufficient estate for maintenance of their lives, shall, by order of the court be bound out or apprenticed until the age of 21 for a boy or 16 for a girl. They were bound to a suitable master or mistress who was required to teach that orphan apprentice an art, trade or business, to be taught reading and writing (and arithmetic for a boy), the Rule of Three, to pay him or her 3 pounds and 10 shillings upon the completion of the apprenticeship; and to be provided with a new suit of clothes at the same time. 7. Guardians were allowed to bind out their wards with the permission of the court. The same principles applied as to education, housing and final payments. 8. When a person under the age of 21 was found to be of unsound mind, or should be found seized of land, tenements or hereditaments in trust, the guardian was to be appointed by the high court of chancery and a hearing was held. After the hearing, the court could execute any deed or other acts in which they became the trustee as if the individual was of sound mind. ALIMONY: Yes, alimony was required as early as 1800. An act passed December 20, 1800 was put in force three months later with the following stipulations: 1. Any court of quarter sessions or district court could receive applications from wives against their husbands for alimony under the following qualifications: a. If the husband abandoned his wife for one year successively b. If the husband lived in open & avowed adultery with another woman for 6 months c. If the husband was cruel, inhuman and barbarous. 2. The application from the wife was exhibited as a bill in chancery and it laid out the cause why alimony was being sought. A hearing was held and a jury was empanneled to investigate the facts. The court then would rule on the matter and if found to be in the wife's favor, the court would decree to the complainant alimony out of the defendant's estate. 3. Alimony would NOT be paid the woman if she was living in known adultery. 4. After the decree for alimony was issued, all power of the husband over the wife was to cease. She had full power of the alimony and could use it to buy property as if she was a feme sole - a single woman. 5. If the husband was found to be about to leave the state, or if it was thought he was attempting to defraud the court or the woman, the court had the jurisdiction to grants writs or injunctions in order to get the alimony. 6. No sum of money was set by law as alimony; this appears to have been decided individually. POOR WIDOWS: Chapter CXLIX of the Kentucky State Statutes covers an act for Poor Widows and was passed at the December 21st session, 1820. It reads: "Any widow in this state, who shall make satisfactory proof to the county or circuit court of the county wherein she or they may reside, that she has not estate in her own right to the value of one hundred dollars; which fact shall be proved in open court, by the testimony of two or more credible witnesses; which application and evidence shall be entered of record in said court, and upon the applicant procuring a certified copy from the clerk of said court, and upon the same being produced to the auditor of public accounts, he shall issue his warrant to the treasurer for one hundred acres of land, and the treasurer shall give his quietus for the same; and the same being produced to the register of the land-office, he shall issue a land warrant for one hundred acres of land, in favour of the applicant, without fee for the same; which warrant shall and may be located on any waste and unappropriated land in this state, except the land west of the Tennessee river and south of Walker's line, upon which patents shall issue as in other cases." It continues in Section 2: "The land obtained by the provisions of this act, shall not be liable to sale by execution, nor shall it be subject to tenancy by the courtesy; but the same shall vest in the widow who acquires the title, for her life, with remainder to her children, if she have any; and if she have none, then the land shall revert to the commonwealth; And the land aforesaid shall not be alienable during the life of the person who obtains the patent." © Copyright 14 May 1998, Sandra K. Gorin, All rights reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Sandi Gorin - 205 Clements Ave., Glasgow, KY 42141-3409 (502)651-9114 or sgorin@glasgow-ky.com - Kentucky Colonel PUBLISHING: http://members.tripod.com/~GorinS/index.html KYRESEARCH: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios BARREN CO OBITUARIES: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/ BarrenObits