Harper v. Taylor (Ex parte Taylor)
Decision Date | 13 October 2017 |
Docket Number | 1150236 |
Citation | 252 So.3d 637 |
Parties | EX PARTE Alice Lynn Harper TAYLOR (In re: William Charles Harper and James Robison Harper, Jr. v. Alice Lynn Harper Taylor) |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
* Note from the reporter of decisions: Judge Norman, probate judge, Butler County, was appointed to preside over this case.
Peter F. Burns of Burns, Cunningham & Mackey, P.C., Mobile; and K. Donelson Foose, Mobile, for petitioner.
William R. Stokes, Jr., of Stokes & Stokes, P.C., Brewton; and Broox G. Garrett, Jr., and J. Kirkman Garrett of Thompson, Garrett & Hines, LLP, Brewton, for respondents.
Alice Lynn Harper Taylor ("Alice") petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directed to the Monroe Probate Court requiring that court to enter orders (i) reinstating her petition to probate a will allegedly executed by Alice Earle Harper in 2007 ("the 2007 will"), (ii) reinstating her petition contesting the 2007 will, and (iii) transferring her contest of the 2007 will to the Monroe Circuit Court pursuant to § 43–8–198, Ala. Code 1975. As hereinafter discussed, we treat the petition as to the first two issues as a timely filed direct appeal, and we reverse and remand. With respect to the third issue, i.e., the transfer of the contest of the 2007 will to the Monroe Circuit Court, we grant the petition.
Alice Earle Harper, a resident of Monroe County, died on March 1, 2013. She was survived by three adult children: Alice, William Charles Harper ("William"), and James Robison Harper, Jr.
On November 12, 2013, Alice filed in the Monroe Probate Court a petition to probate a will allegedly executed by Alice Earle Harper in 1995 ("the 1995 will"). In her petition to probate the 1995 will, Alice acknowledged the existence of the 2007 will, but she asserted that the 2007 will was invalid based on several grounds, including that Alice Earle Taylor lacked the mental capacity to make the 2007 will because she suffered from dementia and that the 2007 will was procured through undue influence exerted by William. Alice attached a copy of the 2007 will as an exhibit to her petition to probate the 1995 will; the 2007 will purports to revoke all earlier wills executed by Alice Earle Harper.
The Monroe Probate Court set Alice's petition to probate the 1995 will for a hearing. As we noted in an earlier appeal involving these parties, Taylor v. Estate of Harper, 164 So.3d 542 (Ala. 2014) (" Taylor I"):
In addressing Alice's arguments in Taylor I, this Court stated:
Following our remand in Taylor I, William filed an answer and counterclaim in the Monroe Probate Court contesting the 1995 will.1 William's answer and counterclaim denied that Alice Earle Harper had executed the 1995 will, and he alleged several reasons why, according to William, the 1995 was invalid or had been revoked. Among those reasons was that the 1995 will "was revoked by" the 2007 will, which, according to William, "was duly signed, published, witnessed and self-proving." William attached a certified copy of the 2007 will to his answer and counterclaim, and he noted that he had filed the 2007 will for probate in the Escambia Probate Court and that that proceeding was being held in abeyance pursuant to this Court's mandate in Taylor I. William's answer and counterclaim requested that the Monroe Probate Court deny Alice's petition to probate the 1995 will and enter an order stating "that the alleged 1995 will was revoked either by Alice Earle Harper's execution of the 2007 will, or by other actions by Alice Earle Harper."
On February 27, 2015, Alice filed in the Monroe Probate Court an "Answer to Will Contest and Motion to Transfer," wherein Alice answered William's contest of the 1995 will and requested that the Monroe Probate Court transfer William's contest of the 1995 will to the Monroe Circuit Court. Thereafter, the Monroe Probate Court entered an order transferring the contest of the 1995 will to the Monroe Circuit Court.
On October 9, 2015, Alice filed a petition to probate the 2007 will in the Monroe Probate Court. Alice alleged that the will had "purportedly" been executed by Alice Earle Harper and had "purportedly" been witnessed. Alice attached a copy of the 2007 will to the petition. The prayer for relief in Alice's petition to probate the 2007 will states that Alice "does now surrender said document for determination of whether it is due to be...
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