Request By:
Mr. James S. Secrest
Allen County Attorney
Box 35
210 W. Main Street
Scottsville, Kentucky 42164-0035
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
KRS 186.470(1) provides in part that the application of any minor under the age of eighteen for an operator's license (motor vehicle) must be signed by a parent or legal guardian of the applicant. The signer of such application is responsible as provided in KRS 186.590 (minor's negligence imputed to person signing the application or allowing him to drive).
Your letter reads in part:
"The local license examiner has refused to accept the application of a minor whose father is deceased, whose mother is mentally incompetent, but whose brother is willing to sign for the minor and assume the responsibilities of KRS 186.590. The brother is an adult. The license examiner has told the minor application that he will be required to have a statutory guardian appointed by the district court before he can apply for a license.
"It is my opinion that under the plain terms of the statute as interpreted by OAG 80-430, the examiner should accept the minor's application and permit him to take the test upon the signature of his adult brother assuming the obligations of KRS 186.590."
In this situation, since the minor has no father or legally appointed guardian, and since the mother has been adjudged, we assume, to be mentally incompetent, the residual option of KRS 186.470 applies. In legal effect, the minor has no father, mother, or guardian. Thus under that statute an operator's license may be granted to the minor if his application is signed by a person willing to assume the obligation imposed by KRS 186.590. The latter statute means that the person signing the application for the minor's operator's license shall be answerable in damages for the negligence of the minor in operating the motor vehicle. The person signing for the minor shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor for any damages caused by the minor's negligence. Here we assume the minor is not able to deposit or have deposited in his behalf a proof of financial responsibility in form and amounts required by KRS Chapter 187.
We understand that the brother of the applicant, which brother is an adult, is willing to sign for the minor and assume the responsibilities of KRS 186.590.
CONCLUSION
Under the facts, it is our opinion that, since the options of either the father, mother, or guardian are not legally possible, the adult brother may sign the application of the minor for an operator's license, as permitted by KRS 186.470, and thus make possible the granting of the license to the minor. Further, the mental incompetency of the mother removed the mother as a signatory option under KRS 186.470. In any event, a contract executed by a person of unsound mind is voidable. Hagemeyer v. First Nat. Bank & Trust Co., 306 Ky. 774, 209 S.W.2d 320 (1948). Cf. OAG 80-430, copy enclosed.
Thus the examiner should accept the minor's application, where the brother's signature is tendered.