Heirs of Ellis v. Estate of Ellis

• Decision Date: 25 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. M1999-00897-SC-R11-CV.,M1999-00897-SC-R11-CV.
• Parties: HEIRS OF Neil G. ELLIS v. The ESTATE OF Virgie Mae ELLIS.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

71 S.W.3d 705

HEIRS OF Neil G. ELLIS v. The ESTATE OF Virgie Mae ELLIS.

No. M1999-00897-SC-R11-CV.

Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Nashville.

March 25, 2002.

Laurie Y. Young, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellants, the Heirs of Neil G. Ellis, consisting of William Oliver Ellis, James T. Ellis, III, Linda Wright, Henry Louis Bunce, Marjorie B. Edwards, Catherine B. Hall, Erma Doyle Davis, Vera Sue

Haire, Empie L. Bunce, Margaret A. Brown, James F. Bunce, Karen Proctor Hall, and William T. Proctor.

William W. Burton, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellee, the Estate of Virgie Mae Ellis.

OPINION

WILLIAM M. BARKER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, C.J., and E. RILEY ANDERSON, ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., and JANICE M. HOLDER, JJ., joined.

The issue in this case is whether property held in a tenancy by the entirety is subject to the 120-hour survival rule contained in section 31-3-120 of the Tennessee Uniform Simultaneous Death Act. Three days after her husband's death, Mrs. Ellis died of unrelated natural causes, and her will was admitted to probate. The husband's heirs sought to intervene in the probate proceeding, claiming that because Mrs. Ellis did not survive her husband for 120 hours, section 31-3-120 deems both to have died "simultaneously." Consequently, they argued, Tennessee Code Annotated section 31-3-104 authorized them to seek a one-half interest in the entireties property. The trial court denied the motion to intervene, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. On appeal to this Court, we hold that section 31-3-120 does not require one spouse to survive the other by 120 hours in order to obtain fee simple title to property formerly held by the entirety. We also hold that the General Assembly, in enacting section 31-3-120, did not intend to define the term "simultaneously" in section 31-3-104 as meaning "within 120 hours." Instead, we conclude that the legislature intended that this term should continue to receive its ordinary construction, meaning "at the same time." The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Neil Ellis and Virgie Mae Ellis were married in 1944, and shortly thereafter, each executed reciprocal wills. The wills did not identify either a contingent or a residual beneficiary, nor did they provide for the disposition of the couple's property in the event of their simultaneous or near-simultaneous death. Instead, the material provision of each will simply bequeathed all of their property to the other: "I will, devise and bequeath all of my property, real, personal and mixed, and wherever situated to [my spouse], absolutely." The couple had no children.

On February 11, 1999, Mr. Ellis died of natural causes. Three days later, his wife also passed away of natural causes, and her will was admitted into probate the following month. On August 3, 1999, the appellants in this case, the heirs of Mr. Ellis, filed a motion to intervene in the probate proceedings, claiming that section 31-3-104 of the Tennessee Uniform Simultaneous Death Act ("TUSDA") entitled them to a one-half share of the Ellises' property held as tenants by the entirety.¹ In support of their motion to intervene, the appellants argued that because Mrs. Ellis failed to survive her husband by 120 hours—the default survival period required by Tennessee Code Annotated section 31-3-120² for a beneficiary to receive a devise under a will—then, in the absence of any provision in the will to the contrary, the TUSDA deems both to have died simultaneously for property distribution purposes under section 31-3-104.

The estate of Mrs. Ellis objected to the intervention, arguing that because entireties property does not pass to the surviving spouse through a devise, section 31-3-120 does not require a spouse to survive by 120 hours to obtain fee simple title to property formerly held by the entirety. The estate also argued that the appellants were not entitled to claim a one-half share of the entireties property under section 31-3-104 because the couple did not die "simultaneously," or "at the same time," as required by the plain language of that section.

After holding a hearing on September 15, 1999, the trial court denied the appellants' motion to intervene, and this decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The intermediate court held that section 31-3-104 did not apply for two reasons. First, it noted that because the couple's entireties property passed to Mrs. Ellis in fee simple immediately upon her husband's death, her estate held no entireties property to distribute to her husband's heirs. Second, the court concluded that because the Ellises did not die "at the same time," section 31-3-104 was inapplicable. Rejecting the appellants' argument that the term "simultaneously" in section 31-3-104 should be interpreted to mean "within 120 hours," the Court of Appeals looked to case law from other states and held that the term "simultaneously" means "at the same time."³

We then granted permission to appeal to Mr. Ellis's heirs to address whether a spouse holding property as a tenant by the entirety must survive the other spouse by 120 hours before taking that property in fee simple absolute. For the reasons given herein, we hold that section 31-3-120 does not alter the common law operation of estates by the entirety, nor does that section affect the settled meaning of the term "simultaneously" as that term is used in section 31-3-104. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

STANDARD OF APPELLATE REVIEW

The issues in this case present questions concerning the proper construction to be given to Tennessee Code Annotated sections 31-3-104 and 31-3-120. Because "issues of statutory construction are questions of law," Stewart v. State, 33 S.W.3d 785, 791 (Tenn.2000); see also State v. Williams, 38 S.W.3d 532, 535 (Tenn.2001); Gleaves v. Checker Cab Transit Corp., 15 S.W.3d 799, 802 (Tenn.2000), we review the issues in this case under a de novo standard of review, according no presumption of correctness to the conclusions reached by the trial court, see Walker v. Board of Prof'l Responsibility, 38 S.W.3d 540, 544 (Tenn.2001); Reeves v. Granite State Ins. Co., 36 S.W.3d 58, 60 (Tenn.2001); Hawks v. City of Westmoreland, 960 S.W.2d 10, 15 (Tenn.1997).

APPLICATION OF THE TENNESSEE UNIFORM SIMULTANEOUS DEATH ACT

Although both Mr. and Mrs. Ellis left wills purporting to dispose of their respective estates, only the will of Mrs. Ellis has been admitted to probate and is before the Court today. Nevertheless, our resolution of the issues in this case must naturally rely upon the construction of both wills, if only because the composition of Mrs. Ellis's estate depends largely upon whether she received any of her husband's interests in property following his death. As such, the arguments of both parties are primarily concerned with whether Mr. Ellis's interests in the couple's entireties property passed to his wife immediately upon his death or whether these interests remained in his estate due to her death only three days later. With this brief background in mind, therefore, we turn to the specific arguments advanced by the parties.

SCOPE OF THE 120-HOUR SURVIVAL RULE CONTAINED IN TENNESSEE CODE ANNOTATED SECTION 31-3-120

The appellants first argue that as a result of the addition of section 31-3-120 to the TUSDA in 1997, see 1997 Tenn. Pub. Acts. ch. 426, § 16, Mrs. Ellis was required to survive her husband by 120 hours before she could obtain fee simple title to property formerly held by the entirety. In support of their position, the appellants argue (1) that application of the 120-hour survival rule is not limited to common disaster cases, and (2) that this survival rule applies to all cases in which a spouse fails to survive the other by this statutory time period. As such, they conclude, because Mrs. Ellis did not survive her husband for at least 120 hours, none of her husband's interests in the couple's entireties property can comprise any part of her estate.

We agree with the appellants that section 31-3-120(b) is in no way limited to common disaster cases and that this section may apply even when spouses or other beneficiaries die of separate and unrelated causes. As demonstrated by its language, this section not only applies in cases when the will does not contain language addressing simultaneous deaths, but it also applies when the will merely fails to require "that the devisee survive by a stated period of time in order to take under the will." Consequently, the scope of section 31-3-120 reaches beyond common disaster cases, and it sets forth a default rule of substantive law that applies in the absence of a contrary survival provision in the will itself. Cf. Tenn.Code Ann. § 31-3-106 ("This chapter shall not apply in the case of wills, living trusts, deeds, or contracts of insurance wherein provision has been made for the distribution of property different from the provisions hereof."); Brundige v. Alexander, 547 S.W.2d 232, 234 (Tenn.1976) (stating that the provisions of the TUSDA constitute "rule[s] of substantive law" and are not merely presumptions of survivorship or rules of evidence).

Nevertheless, even though section 31-3-120 does apply outside of common disaster cases, we conclude that it only partially affects the disposition of Mr. Ellis's property in this case. Significantly, section 31-3-120 does not apply to all types of property interests, and its language is quite specific as to those interests affected by the 120-hour survival rule. For example, subsection (a) states that the 120-hour survival rule applies for purposes of "the homestead allowance, year's support allowance, exempt property, elective share and intestate succession." In addition, subsection (b) applies to all interests passed by "the will of the decedent." However, no other interest in property is specifically covered by the language of section 31-3-120.

Therefore,...