Beat v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 25 August 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 08–1267–JTM.
• Citation: 742 F.Supp.2d 1227
• Parties: Theresa BEAT, Executor of the Estate of deceased Darrel Dean Dyche, Plaintiff,v.UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

742 F.Supp.2d 1227

Theresa BEAT, Executor of the Estate of deceased Darrel Dean Dyche, Plaintiff,

v.UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.

Case No. 08–1267–JTM.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

Aug. 25, 2010.

Ken M. Peterson, Kristen D. Wheeler Maloney, Richard A. Kear, Shannon M. Braun, Will B. Wohlford, Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chtd., Wichita, KS, for Plaintiff.Hilarie E. Snyder, John Robert Monroe, Richard G. Rose, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

J. THOMAS MARTEN, District Judge.

This is an action by Theresa Beat as Executor of the Estate of Darrel Dean Dyche, seeking a refund on estate taxes. The case represents a continuation in the lengthy litigation between Beat and the government and centers on the contention advanced by Beat after Dyche's death that the two were common-law husband and wife. Three motions for summary judgment are now before the court.

In the first motion (Dkt. 62), Beat seeks a determination that she was the common-law wife of Dyche, thereby entitling her to a refund based upon the marital deduction. In the second motion (Dkt. 67), plaintiff argues alternatively that, if she is found to have been Dyche's common-law wife, the estate is entitled to claim deductions for administration expenses in the form of attorneys' fees, accounting fees, executor commissions, and interest expenses. The United States has filed a separate motion for summary judgment (Dkt. 63), seeking a determination that Beat and Dyche were not married under common-law.

Findings of Fact

Beat filed a declaratory judgment action in the District Court for the Thirtieth Judicial District of Kingman County, Kansas, In re Marriage of Dyche and Beat, Case 2005–CV–13 (Dist. Ct. Kingman County, KS). The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the state district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States in October of 2006, holding that Beat and Dyche were not common-law married as a matter of law. In August of 2008, the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that the question of common-law marriage was a fact question. In re Marriage of Dyche and Beat v. United States, ––– Kan.App.2d ––––, 2008 WL 3367565 (Kan.Ct.App.2008).

On remand, the issue before the district court was whether Beat and Dyche were common-law husband and wife. At the time of the remand, the matter of an estate tax refund was not ripe, since the Dyche Estate had yet to file a claim for refund at that time, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. (I.R.C.) § 7422(a).

Theresa Beat and Dean Dyche of Cunningham, Kansas, had a romantic relationship for over twenty years, beginning in 1975 while they were both married to other people: Beat to Gilbert Beat and Dyche to Caroline Dyche. This affair led to divorce in both of their prior marriages: Beat's on January 23, 1980, and Dyche's on August 15, 1980.

Beat and Dyche never had a marriage license from Kansas or any other state.

It is not controverted that Beat and Dyche would have had the capacity for marriage by September, 14, 1980, after the finalization of their divorces and expiration of the subsequent mandatory waiting period.

Beat testified that after she and Dyche obtained their respective divorces, they traveled to Hutchinson in the early 1980's for their “honeymoon.” Beat stated Dyche carried her across the threshold of the Hutchinson motel and introduced her to a waitress as his wife.

With respect to the Hutchinson trip, the government notes that Beat could not remember when the trip occurred, other than that it was “probably” “right after” their divorces, and thus might have been before the time when the parties had capacity to marry. ( Id. at 1.57). Further, Beat was asked in her deposition why, if the trip was indeed a “honeymoon,” Dyche later proposed to her on two separate occasions, Beat responded “[t]hat's just the way he was. And I just—I couldn't answer him when he asked me. All I could think of was what if my kids say something that you're not my dad or—I—he'd been hurt. And I didn't want that to happen.” ( Id.).

Dyche gave Beat two rings, “one of them in the '80s and the next one probably in the '90s.” ( Id. at 1.70). Beat wore one of these rings on her left hand. Beat also testified that when Dyche gave her a diamond ring in 1991, she asked “does that mean we're common-law? He says, yes. So, I know that don't—I mean—thought we were common-law from the beginning, you know, and I think in his mind did, too, but this just topped it off.” ( Id. at 73–74). Another ring given by Dyche to Beat depicts an oil well with diamonds inset, which Beat calls her wedding ring. She acknowledged in her deposition that Dyche did not refer to the ring as a wedding ring.

When she appeared in public with Dyche, Beat wore the ring he gave her in the early 1980's and later the ring he gave her in 1991 on the ring finger of her left hand. She wore the ring except during harvest or when working in the field. Unless his fingers were swollen, Dyche wore a ring which Beat had given him.

Dyche executed a will on or about May 14, 1992, naming Beat as the sole beneficiary and executrix of his estate. Six years later in 1998, Dyche revised his will to add four of Beat's children as alternate beneficiaries should Beat predecease him.

The government has admitted that Beat and Dyche were monogamous and faithful to each other after 1980.

When asked if she recalled if there was any time, besides the trip to Hutchinson, that Dyche referred to her as his wife, Beat testified: “Not right off hand. He might have called—called me his old lady sometimes, I don't know, because we were always together. Better half.” (Beat Dep. 2–101). Beat was asked: “Were there any times when you referred to Dyche as your husband?” She replied: “No. People asked him all the time: Where's your other half? When I wasn't with him. And same to me: Where's your other half?” ( Id. at 101–02).

Dyche and Beat were known by most throughout the community as “Dean and Theresa.” Within their community, Dyche and Beat played pool together, and typically appeared together in public and at social events. Warren Meireis, a teacher at Cunningham High School who taught each of Beat's kids, testified that Dyche and Beat together attended “every school function at parent/teacher conferences” and “all school activities” for the kids through the years. (Warren Meireis Dep. at 6). He added, however, that “to the best of my knowledge they weren't married.” ( Id. at 7).

Beat worked hard every day on the farms and was at Dyche's side during all the seasons of the year. During the farming season and at other times, when she was not working in the fields, Beat would wash Dyche's clothes, do the cooking, send lunches out to the fields, and performed a farm wife's functions.

David Borho, a farm equipment dealer at Kincheloe's in Pratt, knew Dyche and Beat as customers for approximately 30 years and believed they were married because they acted like man and wife. He was on a first name basis with Beat. Phil Harmon saw Dyche and Beat together so often that he didn't know Beat's last name was “Beat.” He assumed it was “Dyche.” Kent Moore, who went to school with Daniel Beat, one of Beat's sons, testified that Dyche and Beat “did everything together as husband and wife.” (Moore Dep. at 5). The government notes that these witnesses testified that Beat and Dyche never affirmatively indicated they were married.

According to Beat, when her children were still young and at home, she stayed the night at her house located at 219 West Third, although on “a few nights” she would stay with Dyche. (Beat Dep. at 1.80). When Beat did spend the night with Dyche, she left her car at her house, so no one would know she was sleeping with him.

Dyche's mother, Iva, died on February 19, 1987, and Beat then spent a lot of time at the home at 111 East 4th Street caring for Dyche's father. Beat testified that Dyche's parents did not think she and Dyche were married.

Once Beat's children grew up and left, sometime around 1992, she kept the house at 219 West Third. By that time, Dyche was living almost exclusively at the home of his parents in Cunningham.

Around December 1996, James Kelley, who lived near Dyche's farm, met Dyche and Beat for the first time. Outside the presence of Beat, Dyche introduced himself to Kelley and “then he introduced me to his wife, Theresa.” (Kelley Dep. at 7). On several later occasions when Kelley saw Dyche, Dyche referred to Beat as “His Mrs.” (Kelley Dep. at 9).

Dyche also introduced Beat as his wife to Rebecca McReynolds.

Before all of her children moved out of the house, Dyche and Beat spent about ten to twelve hours a day together. Beat has testified that during this time period they had a romantic relationship but did not live together. She did not think they were married because she thought “you had to have this piece of paper saying you were.” (Beat Feb. 28, 2006 Dep. at 95). After she spoke with Cobb, she testified, she believes she and Dyche were common-law married.

Beat also testified, that after her children moved out of the house, she usually spent about 24 hours a day with Dyche. She testified that she saw Dyche in the morning, worked with him in the fields, had lunch with him, went out with him at night, and would spend evenings with him. (Beach June 29, 2009 Dep. at 47). She testified that, prior to Dyche's death, she and Dyche “were together all the time and we wore our rings.” ( Id. at 48).

However, the government notes that this testimony is inconsistent with Beach's 2006 testimony that Dyche lived at 4438 N.W. 180th Avenue from 1980 to 1992, and at 111 E. 4th Street until his death, that she spent the winter months at her own home at 219 West Third, that she kept her furniture and her clothes at her own home, and that when she did spend the night at Dyche's house, she left her car at her own home so that no one would know she was...