Drinkard v. Perry
| Decision Date | 02 December 2022 |
| Docket Number | SC-2022-0700,SC-2022-0701 |
| Parties | Matthew C. Drinkard and Jefferson Blane Dolbare v. Jacquelyn Turner Perry, Debra Sue Turner, Mildred Williamson, Edna Fant, Sermenedia White, and Amanda Louise Turner Matthew C. Drinkard and Jefferson Blane Dolbare v. Jacquelyn Turner Perry, Debra Sue Turner, Mildred Williamson, Edna Fant, Sermenedia White, and Amanda Louise Turner |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Matthew C. Drinkard and Jefferson Blane Dolbare filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings regarding the administration of the estate of Milton Turner, deceased, which were pending in the Choctaw Circuit Court ("the circuit court") after having been removed from the Choctaw Probate Court ("the probate court"). The circuit court denied the motion to intervene, and Drinkard and Dolbare appealed.
Milton Turner died on July 25, 2018. On September 20, 2018, Mildred Williamson filed a petition for letters of administration of Turner's estate in the probate court; that case was assigned probate-court case number A-2018-5218. In her petition, Williamson asserted that Turner had died intestate and that Williamson was Turner's only surviving heir. Also on September 20, 2018, the probate court entered an order granting Williamson letters of administration of Turner's estate. The probate court entered a separate order naming Williamson as the personal representative of Turner's estate.
On January 25, 2019, Williamson, individually and in her capacity as the personal representative of Turner's estate, entered into a contract agreeing to sell to Drinkard and Dolbare ("the purchasers") real property belonging to the estate for $880,650. Part of the real estate to be conveyed included "[t]he East half of the Southeast Quarter … in Section 33, Township 9 North Range 4 West, Choctaw, Alabama." The real-estate sales contract specified that the closing of the sale was to occur on or before May 31, 2019. On February 7, 2019, Williamson individually and in her capacity as personal representative of Turner's estate, executed a deed conveying other real property that was part of Turner's estate to Marcus Hester.
On February 13, 2019, Callway Sargent, alleging to be an heir of Turner's, filed a claim of heirship in Turner's estate. Sargent also filed a motion for injunctive relief in which he acknowledged the February 7, 2019, deed, asserted that Williamson had agreed to sell and had conveyed real property belonging to Turner's estate without the approval of the probate court, and requested that the probate court enjoin "Williamson from engaging in any further administration of [Turner's] estate until so ordered by [the probate court]."
On February 14, 2019, Williamson filed in the circuit court a petition pursuant to § 12-11-41, Ala. Code 1975 requesting that the circuit court enter an order removing the administration of Turner's estate from the probate court to the circuit court. On February 19, 2019, the circuit court granted Williamson's petition and entered an order removing the administration of Turner's estate from the probate court to the circuit court; the removed case was assigned circuit-court case number CV-19-900010.
From February 28, 2019, to March 18, 2019, the following individuals, all claiming to be heirs of Turner's, filed individual claims against Turner's estate: Horace Turner, Jr., John Edward Daniels, Amos Hill, Jr., Kantoria Hill, Sermenedia White, Amanda Louise Turner ("Amanda"), Juanita Marie Kirksey, Brandon Pearson, Vera D. Warren, Phillip Kirksey, Jr., Thurman Pearson, Jermaine McGrew, Angela McGrew, Mallie McGrew, Jr., Edna Fant, Jacquelyn Turner Perry, Debra Sue Turner ("Debra Sue"), and Robert Lee Daniels. The claims filed by White and Amanda requested "that a judicial determination be made as to the heirs-at-law of Milton Turner, deceased, and to declare and determine questions regarding the intestate succession, administration and distribution of the intestate estate."
On March 1, 2019, Williamson filed a motion pursuant to § 43-2-844, Ala. Code 1975, requesting that the circuit court approve the sale of real property belonging to Turner's estate. As amended on March 20, 2019, Williamson's motion requested that the circuit court (1) approve the sale memorialized in the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract between Williamson and the purchasers and (2) "approve, ratify and confirm" the February 7, 2019, deed conveying real property belonging to Turner's estate to Hester. Williamson further acknowledged that Fant, Perry, and Debra Sue are "heirs and beneficiaries of the estate." On April 9, 2019, the circuit court entered two separate orders granting Williamson's motion.
On May 8, 2019, Fant, Perry, and Debra Sue filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the circuit court's April 9, 2019, orders or, in the alternative, to certify its April 9, 2019, orders as final pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. On May 22, 2019, following a hearing, the circuit court denied Fant, Perry, and Debra Sue's motion to alter, amend, or vacate but certified its April 9, 2019, orders as final judgments pursuant to Rule 54(b). No party appealed from the circuit court's April 9, 2019, orders.
Williamson and the purchasers did not close on the sale of the property that was the subject of the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract by May 31, 2019, as required by the contract. Accordingly, on July 29, 2019, the purchasers filed a breach-of-contract action against Williamson, individually and in her capacity as personal representative of Turner's estate, alleging that Williamson had breached the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract by failing to close on the sale on or before May 31, 2019. The purchasers requested specific performance of the real-estate sales contract or compensatory damages.
On June 9, 2020, White and Amanda filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the circuit court's April 9, 2019, order approving the sale of real property belonging to the estate memorialized in the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract or, in the alternative, to "stay" the order. In support of their motion, White and Amanda asserted that, on June 2, 2020, they had received "a copy of the 1988 last will and testament of Milton Turner" and that the will purported to devise to Turner's brother, Millage Turner ("Millage"), a portion of the real property that was to be sold to the purchasers pursuant to the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract that had been approved by the circuit court's April 9, 2019 order. White and Amanda further asserted that Millage had died intestate before Turner died and that they are the great-granddaughters of Millage. In fact, Turner's alleged 1988 will specifically devised to Millage approximately 40 acres of land described as "the Southeast one-quarter of the Southeast one-quarter … in Section 33, Township 9 North, Range 4 West" ("the contested property"); the contested property comprises a portion of the property to be sold pursuant to the January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract, which was described, in part, as "[t]he East half of the Southeast Quarter … in Section 33, Township 9 North, Range 4 West, Choctaw, Alabama." White and Amanda argued that, because Turner's alleged will purported to devise to Millage the contested property, which comprises a portion of the property to be sold to the purchasers, the April 9, 2019, order approving the sale had to be revised to exclude mention of the contested property. On July 8, 2020, before their June 9, 2020, motion had been ruled upon, White and Amanda withdrew the motion.
On June 23, 2020, following a trial that had occurred on May 29, 2020, the circuit court entered an order determining that Sargent, Horace Turner, Jr., John Edward Daniels, Amos Hill, Jr., Kantoria Hill, Juanita Marie Kirksey, Brandon Pearson, Vera D. Warren, Phillip Kirksey, Jr., Thurman Pearson, Jermaine McGrew, Angela McGrew, Mallie McGrew, Jr., and Robert Lee Daniels had "failed to produce clear and convincing evidence that they are the descendants/heirs of Milton Turner, deceased, for the purposes of intestate succession." Accordingly, the circuit court denied the above-mentioned parties' claims of heirship in Turner's estate. In that same order, the circuit court also stated that Williamson had "confessed" that White and Amanda are Turner's heirs.
On November 13, 2020, White and Amanda filed in the probate court a "petition for probate of lost last will and testament" of Turner; that case was assigned probate-court case number A-2020-05422. In their petition, White and Amanda recognized that the administration of Turner's estate had previously been removed from the probate court and was pending in the circuit court. White and Amanda offered a copy of the alleged will of Turner, noting that "the original last will and testament of Milton Turner is lost and has not been located."
On December 9, 2020, the probate court entered an order in probate-court case number A-2020-05422 stating that the will of Turner "be received, and the same is hereby declared to be duly proven as the last will and testament of the said Milton Turner, and as such admitted to probate." The probate court further purported to appoint Williamson, again, as the personal representative of Turner's estate in this second estate proceeding. On the same day, White and Amanda filed in the circuit court a petition pursuant to § 12-11-41 requesting that the circuit court enter an order removing probate-court case number A-2020-05422 from the probate court to the circuit court.
On December 14, 2020, the purchasers filed in case number CV-19-900010, the...
To continue reading
Request your trial