In re the Estate of Jaffe

Wingate, S.

Section 64 of the Surrogate’s Court Act mandatorially prescribes the appointment of a special guardian for every party to a proceeding in this court who is not sui juris and not otherwise represented. In the absence of such appointment the infant or incompetent in question is deemed not before the court, and any decree made is void as to him. (Matter of Weed, 107 Misc. 595, 598.)

In the vast majority of cases this requirement is beneficent to a marked degree. Occasionally, however, in non-controversial cases, it assumes a semblance of hardship by imposing apparently needless…