Estate of Helms v. Helms-Hawkins, 55A01-0301-CV-23.

• Decision Date: 23 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 55A01-0301-CV-23.,55A01-0301-CV-23.
• Citation: 804 N.E.2d 1260
• Parties: ESTATE OF Robert "Bobby" Lee HELMS, Deceased, and Robert Lee Helms, II, and Angel Faith Helms McCartney, Appellants-Defendants, v. Tyeanne HELMS-HAWKINS, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

804 N.E.2d 1260

ESTATE OF Robert "Bobby" Lee HELMS, Deceased, and Robert Lee Helms, II, and Angel Faith Helms McCartney, Appellants-Defendants, v. Tyeanne HELMS-HAWKINS, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 55A01-0301-CV-23.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 23, 2004.

Rehearing Denied May 28, 2004.

Mark E. Need, Bose McKinney & Evans, LLP, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellants.

Vincent S. Taylor, Vince Taylor's Law Office, Bloomington, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge.

Robert "Bobby" Helms (Bobby) was a recording artist most noted for three hit songs that topped the pop and country music charts in the late 1950s. Those songs were Fraulein, My Special Angel, and Jingle Bell Rock. Bobby died in Morgan County, Indiana on June 19, 1997. After his death, the royalties to those songs comprised a significant part of his estate. Several probate actions ensued involving either directly or indirectly the rights to those royalties. This appeal challenges a ruling in one of those actions. Appellants consist of Bobby's estate (the Estate) and two of his children, Robert Helms II (Robert) and Angel Faith Helms McCartney (Angel). The appellee is another of Bobby's children, Tyeanne Helms-Hawkins (Tyeanne). The ruling at issue is the granting of Tyeanne's motion to set aside an Agreed Judgment that purportedly settled a dispute over royalties between the Estate on one side and Robert and Angel on the other. Appellants contend that the trial court erred in setting aside the Agreed Judgment, presenting the following consolidated, restated issues for review:

1. Did Tyeanne have standing to challenge the Agreed Judgment?

2. Did the trial court err in granting Tyeanne's motion to set aside the Agreed Judgment?

We affirm.

Essentially, this controversy centers upon procedural questions. Therefore, in addition to a few additional facts, we will set out a detailed account of the procedural history of this case. When Bobby died, he left a will in which he divided his estate among three beneficiaries: Rita Bridges (Rita),¹ Robert, and Angel. Under the will, Rita received (1) all of Bobby's real property, (2) eighty percent of the "rights and interest in royalties from MCA"², Appendix of Appellants at 47, one-third of Bobby's rights and interest in "three ... TV master tapes and two ... video tapes which are owned one-half ... by me and one-half ... by John Klineman", id., and (3) all of Bobby's remaining assets not otherwise specifically disposed of in the will. Robert received (1) Bobby's one-half interest in the rights and royalties to Bobby's Jingle Bell Rock album (of which Robert already owned the other one-half interest), (2) ten percent of the rights and interest in royalties from MCA, and (3) one-third of Bobby's rights and interest in the aforementioned TV master tapes and videotapes that were owned jointly by Bobby and Klineman. Angel received (1) ten percent of the rights and interest in royalties from MCA, and (3) one-third of Bobby's rights and interest in the aforementioned TV master tapes and videotapes that were owned jointly by Bobby and Klineman.

The probate court opened Bobby's estate sometime after his death in June 1997. Three separate legal actions were thereafter initiated. We will refer to the first as the General Estate Proceedings. Those proceedings included the probating of the will and the opening of the estate.

On July 25, 1997, Robert and Angel filed a Complaint to Contest Will, thereby initiating the second action, which we will refer to as the Will Contest Action. In that complaint, Robert and Angel claimed that the October 1 will was invalid for reasons that are not relevant in the instant case. On December 22, 1997, four of Bobby's other children filed a Motion to Intervene in the Will Contest Action filed by Robert and Angel. Those children were Bobby Lee Helms, Randy Scott Helms, Debbie K. Axsom, and Tyeanne. Their motion to intervene was granted. On January 21, 1998, Randy Helms and Tyeanne filed a Motion for Joinder requesting to join in Robert and Angel's Will Contest Action. That motion was granted five days later.

We will refer to the third and final action as the Royalties Action. The instant case arises from a ruling in that proceeding. The Royalties Action was a consolidation of three separate claims against the Estate for royalties that were paid to Bobby periodically by MCA. Those claims involved: (1) a May 24, 1983 assignment by Bobby to John Fewell, who subsequently assigned those rights to Robert and Angel, (2) an August 17, 1988 assignment by Bobby to H and H Promotions, Inc., which is now known as Special Angel, Inc., and (3) a September 27, 1995 assignment by Bobby to Kleiman.³ Following a September 2, 1999 hearing on the consolidated claims, the court issued a March 17, 2000 judgment, accompanied by findings and conclusions. In that judgment, the court acknowledged that Kleiman withdrew his claim against the Estate. The court ruled that Bobby did assign his rights to Fewell, who did subsequently assign his rights to Robert and Angel. The court noted, however, that there was no evidence that royalties were ever paid to Fewell pursuant to the assignment. The court concluded that Bobby's assignment to Fewell lapsed because Fewell failed to enforce it. Therefore, Fewell possessed no rights that could later be assigned to Robert and Angel. Finally, the court also denied Special Angel, Inc.'s claim. The court concluded that Special Angel, Inc., like Fewell, never enforced its assignment and therefore it had lapsed.

On April 18, 2000, Robert and Angel filed a motion to correct errors, challenging the March 17 ruling. Special Angel eventually filed a similar motion. The court denied both motions to correct errors and the non-prevailing parties initiated appeals on September 7, 2000 by filing a praecipe for the record of proceedings. At a pre-appeal conference before this court, the parties indicated they were close to reaching a settlement and requested an extension of time to file the record. They indicated that they would inform the court if and when a settlement had been reached by forwarding to this court a copy of the settlement agreement and a stipulation of dismissal. That evidently occurred, because on April 20, 2001, the parties filed an Agreed Judgment Regarding Claim (Agreed Judgment), which provided, in pertinent as follows:

1. The parties have settled the disputed issues currently on appeal from a prior Order of this Court. As part of the settlement, Rita Helms individually and as personal representative of the estate concedes the issues on appeal, thereby acknowledging the validity and enforceability of a certain assignment for MCA Royalties executed by Bobby Helms during his lifetime to John Fewell, and a subsequent such assignment of that right by John Fewell to Robert Helms, II and Angel McCartney.

2. In light of the validity and enforceability of that assignment, the royalties currently being held in the estate account, such account located with Key Bank, were not and are not assets of the estate, and therefore, are and have been non-probate assets.

3. By virtue of the royalties being non-probate assets, it is hereby stipulated and agreed that such, at this time, should be withdrawn and released from the estate account.

Appendix of Appellants at 24-25. The Agreed Judgment was entered by court order on April 20, 2001. On May 18, 2001, Tyeanne filed an Objection to Agreed Judgment, which stated, "Reference the attached Agreed Judgment Regarding Claims and Order, Rita Helms, Robert Helms II, Angel Helms McCartney and John Fewell entered into a sham agreement which deprives Bobby Helms, Randy Helms, Debbie Axsom, and [Tyeanne] of their causes of actions [sic] and entitlements in the estate of their father." Appendix of Appellants at 26. On March 26, 2002, Appellants filed a response to Tyeanne's Objection to Agreed Judgment and a Motion to Reconsider Order Granting Intervention. On December 13, 2002, the trial court granted Tyeanne's motion and set aside the Agreed Judgment. Appellants appeal that order.

1.

Appellants contend that Tyeanne's motion to set aside the Agreed Judgment must be denied because her motion to join the will contest action was not filed until after the statutory five-month limitations period had expired. See Ind.Code Ann. § 29-1-7-17 (West, PREMISE through 2003 1st Regular Sess.). Therefore, Appellants argue, she is not a valid party in the action in the first place and has no standing to challenge the Agreed Judgment.

Our research indicates that our appellate courts have not addressed this question recently, but it appears that, years ago, it was resolved adverse to Appellants' position. In State ex rel. Matheny v. Probate Court of Marion County, 239 Ind. 518, 159 N.E.2d 128 (1959), our supreme court addressed a similar, though not precisely the same, question, i.e., "Can an order of court and the filing of an amended complaint to contest a will after expiration of the statutory time for filing such contest, bring an omitted necessary party defendant (a beneficiary under the will) into court so as to confer jurisdiction of the person and subject matter on the court?" Id. at 130. In Matheny, the court's ruling was based in large part upon a passage from a nineteenth-century Indiana case addressing essentially the same issue as is before us in the instant case. We reproduce that passage here:

Where a petition of [a will] contest is filed within the statutory period of limitation although only part of the persons interested are made parties thereto, the right of action is saved as to all who are ultimately made parties, notwithstanding some of them are not brought into the case until after the period of limitation has expired. If any person interested appears, and in good faith files his petition for a contest, the statutes entitle him to a trial, and the verdict of a jury, touching the validity of the will, and that

...