Collins v. Collins

Decision Date14 June 2022
Docket Numbers. SD 37185 & SD 37286 Consolidated
Citation648 S.W.3d 871
Parties ESTATE OF Billie W. COLLINS, BY AND THROUGH its personal representative Shannon COLLINS, Appellant, v. Frances L. COLLINS, Respondent.
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANTJONATHAN T. STERNBERG, Kansas City, MO.

ATTORNEY FOR RESPONDENTGEORGE C. FISHER, JR., West Plains, MO.

MARY W. SHEFFIELD, P.J.

Shannon Collins ("Daughter"), as personal representative of the estate of her father, Billie Collins ("the Estate"), appeals the trial court's judgment determining that her father ("Billie") and his former wife, Frances Collins ("Frances") had a partnership from 2013 until Billie's death in 2016 for the operation of a cattle farm.1 In a single point, the Estate argues the trial court misapplied the law in determining there was a partnership between Billie and Frances because there was no specific and definite agreement between them to share profits and losses of the cattle farm.

Finding no merit in the Estate's point, we affirm the trial court's judgment.

Facts and Background

The sole issue in this case is whether the trial court misapplied the law in determining that Billie and Frances had a partnership to operate a cattle farm beginning in 2013. There is no dispute that Billie and Frances were not partners before 2013. Nevertheless, an understanding of the relationship between Billie and Frances before 2013 is necessary for context. The evidence, in the light most favorable to the judgment, is as follows.

Billie and Frances's Relationship Before 2013 and the Dairy Operation

Billie and Frances married in 2005 and divorced in 2011. During their marriage, Frances and Billie ran a dairy farm in Pottersville. As part of the divorce settlement, Billie was awarded the Pottersville farm, certain equipment, cattle, and a bank account at Community First Bank ("Community"). After the divorce, Billie and Daughter formed Fresh Start Farms LLC ("the LLC") and were the only members of the LLC. Billie conveyed the Pottersville real estate to the LLC but did not convey the cattle and equipment.2 The LLC did not have a bank account, so Billie primarily used his bank account at Community to operate the farm.3

Despite being divorced, Billie and Frances maintained a relationship. According to Frances, Billie was the "love of [her] life [.]" Sometime in late 2012 or early 2013, Frances moved back in with Billie at the Pottersville residence and was working on the farm. Billie paid Frances for her work in 2012. For the 2012 tax year, Billie provided Frances with a tax form showing himself as Payor and Frances the recipient of nonemployee compensation of $15,256. Billie treated Frances as an independent contractor performing work for the dairy farm.

At some point in 2012 or 2013, Billie decided "he always wanted a farm with crops ... and beef cattle[,]" which he discussed with Frances. To make this transition from a dairy farm to a beef cattle operation, Billie and Frances began buying black bulls and crossbreeding them with the Holsteins that were part of the dairy herd. Some of the heifers that were part of the dairy herd were being retained while others were being sold off during the transition period.

Transition to the Beef Cattle Business (2013-2016)
(1) Participation in the Management/Business Decisions

By 2013, Frances was actively participating in the transition from dairy to beef and Billie stopped paying her for her work. Billie had health issues, so Frances performed much of the demanding physical labor and had knowledge of the working operations of the dairy farm. The farm also "had other people hired" to help out. Frances "had management authority with regard to purchases and employees."

(2) Jointly Held Accounts, Property and Debts

As previously noted, Frances's name was kept on the Community account even though Billie had been awarded the account in the divorce. Both Billie and Frances wrote checks for bulls from this account. All the expenses related to the farm as well as household expenses shared by Billie and Frances were withdrawn from this account. Frances testified that in 2013, the revenue from the dairy operation was directly deposited into the Community account. Frances was not required to ask Billie for permission to write checks from the Community account.

In September 2014, Billie and Francis jointly borrowed $20,278.21 from Community to purchase farm equipment. In March 2015, they bought a farm with a residence in Vernon County for the transition from dairy to beef cattle. Both Billie and Frances were listed as owners on the deed for the Vernon County property. Frances contributed approximately $87,000 toward the purchase of the Vernon County property, which had a total purchase price of around $700,000.4

Various pieces of farm equipment were purchased jointly by Billie and Frances. In May 2015, $17,000 from the Community account was used to purchase a lowboy trailer. In June 2015, Billie and Frances borrowed $37,750 to purchase a Neville stock trailer. The invoice for the trailer had both Billie and Frances's name on it. In October 2015, Billie and Frances bought a corn planter.

In 2016, the last of the dairy herd from the Pottersville farm was sold, and all the remaining cattle were beef cattle bought or bred after 2013. That June, Billie and Frances borrowed $25,034 to purchase a Caterpillar D6M dozer.

(3) Tax Filings

For each year between 2012 and 2015, Billie filed a Schedule F tax return as an individual. In 2013, Billie's tax return claimed farm income of $145,000. Frances testified she helped Billie file his tax returns from 2013 until his death in 2016. During this time, Frances did not claim any farm income on her own tax returns. In 2013, Frances reported $6,200 earned from working for temp agencies. In 2014 and 2015, the only personal property Frances claimed on her taxes was one personal vehicle. During this same period, Billie claimed all the profits and losses from the farm on his taxes.

In 2016, after Billie died, Frances filed a Schedule F tax return, claiming the farm income. Her tax return showed income of $287,465, but Frances did not know where all the income came from and could only say she claimed income earned from the sale of cattle, corn, and half the milk sales. According to Frances, there were more milk sales from the farm during 2016, but she only claimed half of them because the other half was Billie's. That year, Frances again only claimed one vehicle as her sole personal property.

(4) Revenue from Farm, Profit Sharing, Loss Sharing

In 2014, Daughter and Billie sold $544,000 worth of cattle. In 2015, Billie sold $504,000 worth of cattle. When asked about the proceeds of a cattle sale before Billie's death in 2016, Frances testified that the proceeds from that sale "probably went in our checking account." Frances testified that while her tax return showed no income from the farm, she was sharing in the "revenue" that was coming into the Community account. She testified she "was living on what [they] were accumulating in [their] checking account from milking the cows and from sales of cows." According to Frances, it did not matter that Billie was claiming the equipment and livestock and depreciations on his taxes because "the money was going back into our account. When I got back with [Billie], we just resided like we were married and we just went on. He was claiming stuff; I didn't have to claim it."

Billie's Death and End of the Beef Operation

In August 2016, Billie's health deteriorated and Frances took him to the hospital where he was eventually placed on life support.5 Billie told both Daughter and Frances to sell the cattle if he died. In September 2016, Billie died. After Billie's death, Frances went to the Pottersville farm and removed personal property the Estate subsequently alleged belonged to Billie. The last night Frances stayed in the Pottersville home was the day before Billie died. After his death, Frances sold 258 of the cattle. She testified she put that money in CD's at Community. Frances also removed several pieces of farm equipment from the Pottersville property.

After Billie's death, Daughter had her attorney draft eviction notices on behalf of the Estate, which were then posted on the Pottersville residence. Daughter discovered much of the equipment and other property was gone, including some cash Billie kept there. Frances admitted she took the cash but claimed she had a half interest in it. The missing equipment included the D6 dozer, a Ford F350 pickup truck, a Freightliner dump truck, an entire corral system, a Bobcat skid steer, Bobcat attachments, 50 calf huts, hand tools, a semi stock cattle trailer, an International Harvester 886 tractor, and a wallet with $2,000 in it. The F350, International Harvester tractor, and Bobcat were eventually retrieved, but according to Daughter, the tractor was returned in damaged condition. The cattle were all gone, too. Frances also harvested and sold the corn crop from the Vernon County property.6

The Lawsuit

Daughter, on behalf of the Estate, sued Frances for replevin, conversion, and punitive damages. Frances denied the Estate's allegations and filed a counterclaim against the Estate, Daughter, and the LLC alleging she and Billie had a "joint venture" in which they had mutually agreed to invest their time and resources in the beef cattle operation.7

The case was tried to the court without a jury. The Estate did not dispute Frances's right to property that was jointly titled in her and Billie's names, such as the joint checking accounts, the Vernon County real estate, and certain pieces of equipment. The assets in dispute in this appeal are the farm assets that Frances admitted she took, but claims a half-interest in, by virtue of them being partnership property.8 In determining this issue, the trial court weighed the facts favoring a...

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