The State Department of Public Welfare shall have the power and the Department shall have the duty to appear as next friend for all minor orphans, incompetents, dependents and delinquents who are inmates of any public institution maintained and operated by the state, county, city or municipality before the district court having probate jurisdiction, and ask that legal guardians be appointed for the estates of such minor orphans, incompetents, dependents and delinquents when it appears that such persons have an interest in some estate, legacy, or property, and shall have such power and authority in any and all litigation where interests of such persons may require to be prosecuted or defended or instituted in any and all courts in this state.
The State Department of Public Welfare, in addition to the foregoing, is hereby empowered to intervene as next friend in cases of all minor orphans in this state when it is shown or appears to the Department that the estate of such minors is being mismanaged or dishonestly administered.
R.L.1910, § 8101; Laws 1910-11, c. 25, p. 45, § 1; Laws 1978, c. 244, § 36, eff. July 1, 1978. Renumbered from Title 74, § 181 by Laws 1982, c. 312, § 48, emerg. eff. May 28, 1982.