Peter v. Gibson

Summary

The Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the denial of a writ of prohibition sought to prevent a Jefferson Circuit Court accounting action concerning custodial property under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. The Court held that the UTMA's district-court accounting procedure applies to minors and does not govern an adult beneficiary's action concerning an expired custodianship. The Court concluded that the adult beneficiary could pursue a conventional equitable accounting and related constructive-trust remedies in circuit court.

Holdings

1. KRS 385.192 does not authorize a district-court accounting proceeding for custodial property that should have been released to an adult beneficiary, because the statute's accounting remedy applies to minors or persons petitioning on behalf of a minor. After the beneficiary reaches adulthood, the dispute is governed by conventional equitable remedies rather than the UTMA's district-court jurisdiction.
2. Appellant was not entitled to a writ of prohibition because the Jefferson Circuit Court was not proceeding outside its subject-matter jurisdiction by hearing the adult beneficiary's equitable accounting action.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Jefferson Circuit Court had subject-matter jurisdiction over an equitable accounting action brought by an adult beneficiary concerning an expired UTMA custodianship.
2. Whether the UTMA's grant of jurisdiction to district courts for accounting proceedings extended to an adult beneficiary seeking an accounting after the custodial property should have been transferred at age eighteen.
3. Whether appellant was entitled to a writ of prohibition barring the circuit court from proceeding.

Disposition

affirmed