Bell v. Estate of Bell

• Citation: 181 P.3d 708,2008 NMCA 045
• Decision Date: 21 February 2008
• Docket Number: No. 27,392.,27,392.
• Parties: Vivan BELL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Ralph M. BELL, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

181 P.3d 708

2008 NMCA 045

Vivan BELL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Ralph M. BELL, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 27,392.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

February 21, 2008.

Certiorari Granted, April 1, 2008, No. 30,997.

Sanders, Bruin, Coll & Worley, P.A., Ian D. McKelvy Roswell, NM, for Appellant.

Tim J. O'Quinn, P.C., Tim J. O'Quinn, Tucumcari, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

CASTILLO, Judge.

{1} This case is before us on interlocutory appeal from probate proceedings in the district court of Quay County. Petitioner-Appellant Vivan Bell (Mrs. Bell) is the surviving spouse of Ralph M. Bell (Decedent), who executed a will and created a revocable trust approximately five months prior to his marriage to Mrs. Bell. Neither the will nor the revocable trust mentions Mrs. Bell or Decedent's anticipated marriage to Mrs. Bell. Following Decedent's death, Mrs. Bell filed a petition for adjudication of intestacy in the district court and asserted, among other things, a claim under NMSA 1978, § 45-2-301 (1995), as an omitted spouse. The district court determined that Decedent devised his estate to his adult children of a prior marriage via the will and revocable trust, and that Mrs. Bell's claim under Section 45-2-301 must therefore fail. The district court certified the issue for interlocutory appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and remand with instructions.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Decedent executed his will and created the Ralph Morris Bell Family Revocable Trust (Trust) on September 14, 2000. The will provides the following: "All of my estate of whatsoever kind . . . I devise to the Trustee of the [Trust] to be held by said Trustee . . . to be distributed as part of that Trust." In turn, the Trust provides that "[u]pon the death of [Decedent], the . . . Trustee shall distribute the entire [T]rust estate, principal and accumulated income[ ] to [Decedent's] children, RALPH MACK BELL and DIXIE ROBERTA HECKENDORN, in equal shares." The Trust further states that "[i]n the event there are no living descendants entitled to distribution of the [T]rust assets, . . . the Trustee shall distribute the [T]rust estate to the persons who would inherit New Mexico property from [Decedent] under the laws of the State of New Mexico in force on the date of [Decedent's] death if [Decedent] had died . . . intestate[ ] and unmarried." Neither the will nor the Trust refers to Mrs. Bell in any manner, nor do they indicate that Decedent was contemplating getting married.

{3} In February 2001, approximately five months after executing the will and the Trust, Decedent married Mrs. Bell. Decedent died four years later on April 5, 2005. In addition to Mrs. Bell, Decedent was survived by two children from a prior marriage, Ralph Mack Bell (Son) and Dixie Roberta Heckendorn (collectively, Children).

{4} On November 30, 2005, Mrs. Bell filed a petition for adjudication of intestacy, determination of heirship, and formal appointment as personal representative. Mrs. Bell asserted, among other things, that Decedent died intestate with respect to Mrs. Bell under Section 45-2-301. Son filed an objection to Mrs. Bell's petition, in which he claimed that Decedent devised all of his property to Children by will and thus died testate. Son asked the district court to appoint him as personal representative and to admit Decedent's will to probate. On April 25, 2006, the district court entered an order concluding that Decedent died testate and appointing Son as personal representative.

{5} On October 19, 2006, Mrs. Bell filed a "Motion for Summary Judgment or for Finding of Law" regarding her theory that the Trust property should either be included in Decedent's estate for the purposes of calculating Mrs. Bell's intestate share under Section 45-2-301, or should be used for payment of her intestate share to the extent the probate estate proves to be inadequate. Mrs. Bell asserted that under Section 45-2-301, if the surviving spouse of a decedent married the decedent after he executed his will, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less than the value of the share of the estate she would have received if the decedent had died intestate. Mrs. Bell further claimed that no material facts were in dispute and that none of the exceptions to Section 45-2-301 applied.

{6} Respondent-Appellee the Estate of Ralph M. Bell (Estate) filed a response in opposition to Mrs. Bell's motion and claimed that Section 45-2-301 only applies to that portion of the testator's estate that is not devised to the testator's child born before the testator married the surviving spouse and who is not a child of the surviving spouse. The Estate asserted that Decedent devised all of his property to Children via the Trust and that Decedent provided for Mrs. Bell by transfer outside of the will, thus triggering one of the exceptions listed in Section 45-2-301. More specifically, the Estate claimed that Decedent provided Mrs. Bell with $7,000.00 in life insurance proceeds, approximately $2,900.00 per month in retirement income, medicare coverage through Decedent's social security account, and long-term health care. Mrs. Bell filed a reply in which she asserted that these benefits did not constitute a transfer outside of the will under Section 45-2-301 and that Children are not devisees of Decedent's property, but instead are beneficiaries under the Trust.

{7} Following a hearing on Mrs. Bell's motion for summary judgment, the district court found that the will and Trust taken together indicated Decedent's intent to devise his property to Children. The district court further concluded that Mrs. Bell was not entitled to a share of Decedent's estate as an omitted spouse, though she was entitled, under NMSA 1978, § 46A-5-505(A)(1) (2003), to invade the Trust corpus to satisfy the family and personal property allowances set forth in NMSA 1978, § 45-2-402 (1995), and NMSA 1978, § 45-2-403 (1999). The district court emphasized, however, that the sole basis for its denial of summary judgment was its finding that Decedent devised his estate to Children and therefore Section 45-2-301 did not apply. The district court did not rely on the exception to Section 45-2-301 regarding transfers in lieu of a testamentary devise. The district court delayed ruling on whether that exception precluded Mrs. Bell from receiving even the statutory allowances.

{8} The district court's order denying Mrs. Bell's motion for summary judgment recited, in relevant part, the following:

[Mrs.] Bell is the surviving spouse of [Decedent] and married . . . Decedent after he executed his Will, which was admitted to probate in this matter. There was no provision made for [Mrs.] Bell in the Will or the Trust. However, the [c]ourt finds under [Section] 45-2-301 . . . the Will and the . . . Trust . . . reflect that the property of . . . Decedent was devised to children of [Decedent] who were born before [Decedent] married [Mrs.] Bell, and who are not children of [Mrs.] Bell; therefore, [Mrs.] Bell is not entitled to take any intestate share under [Section] 45-2-301 as an omitted spouse. As a result of the [c]ourt's ruling on the basis of the Will and the Trust . . ., the [c]ourt finds it does not need to hear any evidence regarding the intent of [Decedent] for purposes of [Section] 45-2-301.

The district court further concluded that Mrs. Bell's right to invade the Trust corpus to satisfy the statutory allowances would be subject to the Estate's evidence regarding whether Decedent made a transfer to her outside of the will in lieu of making a testamentary provision for her. Finally, the district court certified for interlocutory appeal the question of whether Children are devisees for the purposes of Section 45-2-301. We granted Mrs. Bell's subsequent application for interlocutory appeal.

{9} Mrs. Bell challenges the district court's denial of her share of Decedent's estate under Section 45-2-301 on the basis of the court's finding that Children were devisees, instead of beneficiaries. Mrs. Bell also addresses the questions of how an omitted spouse's intestate share should be calculated and satisfied. The Estate urges us to affirm on the basis that (1) Decedent's testamentary intent to devise his property to Children is clear from the will and the Trust and that (2) Decedent adequately provided for Mrs. Bell outside of the will, which satisfies the exception set forth in Section 45-2-301(A)(3). We note at the outset, however, that the district court expressly did not make its ruling on the basis of this subsection and did not certify that issue for interlocutory appeal. Accordingly, we do not reach that issue.

{10} We consider and determine the issue regarding Children's status. For the purpose of guidance, we also address the application of Trust assets with respect to the omitted spouse's intestate share. Last, we review sua sponte an issue not raised in the briefs: the validity of the district court's determination that Mrs. Bell's right to statutory allowances is contingent upon whether Decedent made a transfer to her outside of the will. We begin with the question of whether Children were devisees within the meaning of Section 45-2-301.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Definition of "Devisee" Under Section 45-2-301

{11} We review the district court's interpretation of Section 45-2-301 de novo. See Grine v. Peabody Natural Res., 2006-NMSC-031, ¶ 17, 140 N.M. 30, 139 P.3d 190 ("This Court reviews the interpretation of a statute de novo." (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). "Our main goal in statutory construction is to give effect to the intent of the legislature." Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). "We do not depart from the plain language of a statute unless we must resolve an ambiguity, correct a mistake or absurdity, or deal with a conflict between different statutory provisions." N.M. Bd. of Veterinary Med. v. Riegger, 2007-NMSC-044, ¶ 11, 142 N.M. 248, ...