Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-473

Opinion No. 473. Counties-Claims-l\lothel"S Pensions -Residence. HI~LD: A county is not. liable fol' a mother's penSion unless the applicant shall have been a resident of the coun- ty for at least one year prior to the making of aplication for pension. February 26, 1934. You have asked whether Beaverhead County is responsible for the granting of a mother's pension upon the follow- ing facts: "V., his wife and two boys, horn .Tanuary, 1921, and ;\'lay, 1923, came to Montana in 1929, remaining until December, 11130. when they left for Xew York, arriving there in January of 1931, and where they resided until :March, 1933, when they left in their truck for Butte, Montana, arriving there in AUl-(ust of the same year. Not being able to get work. V. went into the 'junk' husiness and in October went to an abandoned COO camp in Beaverhead County where he took some junk. He was arrested, pled !.,'"uilty and was sentenced October 24, 1933, for 'stealing junk,' and was tak- en to the state penitentiary to serve a term of one year. His wife and sons were then l-ient from Butte to her fa- ther in Arizona as Silver Bow County OPI:\IO:\R OF THB A'I'TOR:\BY GK\'BRAL 327 would not daim responsibility for their care. On }<'ebrunr~' 1, H)l~4. ther started back from Arizona. where they had been unable to get any relief, and hitch-hiked back to ~Iontana and are now in Helena. Section 10482 as amended by Chapter 12, Laws of 1927, and Chapter 133, Laws of 1933 provides: "The allowance herein referred to shall be made subject to the following conditions .. .. * (5) 1\0 person shall receive the ilenefit of this Act who • • • .. shall not have been a resident of the county in which said applica- tion is made for at least one year prior to the making of such applica- tion for allowance" It is my opinion that the pro\'ision as to residence for one year applies to the facts you ha\'e submitted and that inasmuch as the mother and her chil- dren have not been residents of Bea\'- erhead County for one year, that coun'- ty would not be liable for a mother's pension for said children should ap- plication for such allowance be made.