DocketNumber: No. 2839
Citation Numbers: 352 Pa. Super. 135, 507 A.2d 418
Judges: Cavanaugh, Hoffman, Wickersham
Filed Date: 4/1/1986
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 2/18/2022
Julia Beall Passyn appeals from the order of court by which Abraham Brown was adjudged an incompetent and a guardian of his estate was appointed.
On January 25, 1983, appellant entered into a written agreement with Mr. Brown to assist him in handling his finances. During the term of the contract, appellant wrote out checks for Mr. Brown and invested over $12,000.00 of Mr. Brown’s funds in certain mortgages. Sometime later Mr. Brown apparently grew dissatisfied with appellant’s management of his financial affairs and requested that appellant turn over his assets. Appellant did not honor that request.
Subsequently, Mr. Brown, in an unusual circumstance, personally petitioned the court to adjudge him incompetent and to appoint a guardian of his estate. Appellant was not a party to the incompetency hearing but was subpoenaed to attend the September 21,1984 hearing because she still held the assets of Mr. Brown. At that hearing, Mr. Brown was adjudged an incompetent and James P. McGarrity was appointed guardian of his estate by the Honorable Judith J. Jamison of the Orphan’s Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Appellant files this timely appeal in which she raises four allegations of error relating to the incompetency proceeding for our consideration.
While we are aware of no appellate authority directly on point, we are persuaded of the logic of this position by the lower court’s opinion in Reidenbach’s Estate, 30 Pa.Fiduc. 347, 15 D. & C.3d 350 (O.C.Allegheny 1980). In Reidenbach’s Estate, the court held that an incompetent’s nephew, who was not an intestate heir, was neither entitled to notice of any proceeding before the court involving the incompetent, nor able to file objections, since the incompetent’s sole heir under the intestacy law was the incompetent’s spouse. Id. at 350, 15 D. & C.3d at 353.
In the instant case, appellant’s relationship with Mr. Brown is far more tenuous than that of the blood relative in Reidenbach’s Estate. It is clear that she, as a nonrelative, could not ever possess an interest as an intestate heir and was not entitled to be notified of Mr. Brown’s incompetency adjudication, nor able to file objections below. Mr. Brown’s sole heir under the intestacy law was his adopted daughter, Maxine Brown. It was therefore Maxine Brown and not appellant who possessed the protectable interest below. See id. It is similarly now only Miss Brown or Mr. Brown himself who has standing to challenge the adjudication.
Thus her right to appeal, if any, is confined to that provided to parties under the general rule:
“Except where the right of appeal is enlarged by statute, any party who is aggrieved by an appealable order ... may appeal therefrom.” Pa.R.A.P. 501 (emphasis added). Accordingly, an appeal by one who was not a party to a proceeding in the trial court must be quashed. Mechanics National Bank v. Buchman, 253 Pa. 245, 97 A. 1056 (1916); In re Devereux’s Estate, 353 Pa. 560, 46 A.2d 168 (1946) (no standing to appeal because appellant never properly became a party to the proceeding in trial court). The Appellate Rules do not define the term “party.” However, the note following the definitional rule, Pa.R.A.P. 102, states that that rule is based on 42 Pa.C.S. § 102, which defines “party” as “a person who commences or against whom relief is sought, in a matter....”
Newberg by Newberg v. Board of Public Education, 330 Pa.Super. 65, 68-69, 478 A.2d 1352, 1354 (1984).
In this case, while appellant would style herself as a party to the case at the request of Mr. Brown’s attorney, see Statement of the Case, Brief for Appellant at 3, this is not a fact reflected in the record. Appellant’s participation in the proceeding below was limited to giving testimony at the incompetency hearing. This role as a witness did not make her a party to the action or otherwise establish a right to review. See Appeal of Greco, 434 Pa. 431, 254 A.2d 6 (1969) (appearing as a witness is not the participation necessary to establish a right to review). Thus, appellant’s appeal is one without standing and should be quashed. See Newberg by Newberg v. Board of Public Education, supra.
The appeal is quashed.
. Appellant states the issues to be as follows:
MAJOR QUESTION
Did the Lower Court err in adjudicating Mr. Abraham Brown an incompetent and appointing a guardian because there was not sufficient evidence presented, — when in fact the evidence was that Mr. Brown had been handling his own affairs quite well? RELATED QUESTION
Did the Court err in not considering Mr. Brown's own testimony, testimony as to his handling of his affairs?
MINOR QUESTIONS
Was the Court so biased in favor of the Petitioner that the Court could not reach a decision other than that requested by the Petitioner?
*137 Did the Petitioner’s relationship with the daughter Maxine Brown so taint his relationship with Mr. Brown that he should not have been the Petitioner/Attorney and Proposed Guardian?
Brief for Appellant at 2.