In re Estate of Baker v. King

• Decision Date: 04 May 2006
• Parties: In re ESTATE OF Clifford Franklin BAKER, et al. v. Lee KING, et al.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

207 S.W.3d 254

In re ESTATE OF Clifford Franklin BAKER, et al. v. Lee KING, et al.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Western Section, at Jackson.

January 18, 2006 Session.

May 4, 2006.

Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court October 2, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

J. Steven Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee for Appellant, Tommie Baker.

Harold F. Johnson of Jackson, Tennessee for Appellees, Lee King and Baker King.

OPINION

W. FRANK CRAWFORD, P.J., W.S., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ALAN E. HIGHERS, J. and DAVID R. FARMER, J., joined.

This appeal involves a challenge to the validity of an antenuptial agreement. Executors under the decedent's Will filed a petition in the General Sessions Court of Madison County, Probate Division, to have Will admitted to probate. Decedent's wife then filed a notice and petition for elective share, for specific property, year's support, homestead, and expedited hearing. The Executors, also beneficiaries under decedent's Will, opposed the petition based on an antenuptial agreement the wife had entered into with the decedent prior to their marriage, and the wife challenged the enforceability of the antenuptial agreement. Following a hearing, the court upheld the validity of the antenuptial agreement, finding that the wife entered into the agreement knowledgeably and that the doctrine of equitable estoppel prohibited the wife from contesting the antenuptial agreement. Wife appeals. The dispositive question before this Court is whether the evidence preponderates against the trial court's finding that the antenuptial agreement was valid and enforceable. We conclude that the record and applicable law do not support the trial court's decision to enforce the antenuptial agreement. We reverse and remand this case to the probate court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

Tommie Baker ("Wife" or "Appellant") and Clifford Franklin Baker ("Husband" or "Decedent") were married on September 5, 1976. The couple had known each other for approximately ten years, and had dated for five years prior to their marriage. Wife was employed as a waitress and Husband owned and operated a gas station. On August 31, 1976, six days prior to the marriage, Husband picked Wife up at her home and drove her to the office of his attorney, Mr. Dick Nunn. Mr. Nunn indicated to Wife that Husband wanted her to sign a document that Mr. Nunn had prepared. Wife testified at trial that she signed the document, an antenuptial contract, in the presence of Husband and Mr. Nunn and left the office. The antenuptial agreement reads:

THIS CONTRACT made and entered into on this the 24th day of August, 1976, but actually executed on the day this instrument bears date, by and between Clifford F. Baker, who will hereinafter be referred to and called the Party of the First Part, and Tommie Neal, who will hereinafter be referred to and called the Part of the Second Party, both of Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee. WITNESSETH:

WHEREAS, the parties hereto contemplate marriage with each other and are desirous of entering into this contract and agreement for the purpose of insuring harmony in their marriage, and freedom of action one from another in the management of their respective business affairs, after said marriage; and,

WHEREAS, the Party of the First Part is seized and possessed of valuable property, both real and personal, and each of the parties hereto have an earning capacity, and each of said parties is desirous of retaining absolute and full control of their said properties, real, personal and/or mixed, and of relinquishing all rights of every kind and character whether by virtue of their marriage to each other, of descent and distribution, by dower or curtesy, and all other rights of every kind and character arising from their said marriage in the property of the other. THEREFORE:

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that for and in consideration of said marriage, the mutual covenants and agreements between the parties hereto and contained herein, and the sum of One Dollar ($1.00), cash in hand each to the other paid, the receipt of all of which is hereby acknowledged, the said Clifford F. Baker hereby covenants, contracts, and agrees and does by these presents release, remise and relinquish all claims of curtesy, inheritance, year's support, exempt property, descent and distribution, and all other marital rights of every kind and character in and to the real and personal property of the said Tommie Neal now owned or hereafter acquired and to all other rights or claims in or to the estate of the said Tommie Neal during her life time and at her death, which may in any manner arise or accrue by virtue of their said marriage; and the said Tommie Neal hereby covenants, contracts and agrees and does by these presents release, remise and relinquish all claims of dower, inheritance, year's support, exempt property, descent and distribution, an all other marital rights of ever kind and character in and to the real and personal property of the said Clifford F. Baker during his life time and at his death, which may in any manner arise or accrue by virtue of their said marriage.

The parties hereto mutually agree further to execute and acknowledge, upon the request of the other, or of his or her heirs, devises, personal representatives or assigns, any and all proper instruments of release or conveyance to enable each party hereto, or their devisees, personal representatives or assigns, to bargain, sell and convey or devise or will, or otherwise dispose of any and all property, real, personal and/or mixed, wheresoever situated now owned or hereafter acquired free and clear of any and all real or apparent right of the other that might otherwise accrue by virtue of the said contemplated marriage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have hereunder subscribed their names, this the 31st day of August, 1976.

The agreement was signed by both Clifford F. Baker and Tommie Neal and was notarized by Maggie Mae Pittman.

Husband had a Will drawn up by his attorney, Mr. Nunn, and signed it on April, 4, 1980. The antenuptial agreement was incorporated into the 1980 Will by the following language:

On the 31st day of August, 1976, my said wife, Tommie Baker, then Tommie Neal, and I entered into an ante-nuptial agreement settling our respective property rights. With the exception of the bequest contained in this Item of my will, I do hereby ratify, republish and reaffirm said ante-nuptial agreement.

Husband executed subsequent Wills in 1981, 1986 and 2002, each revoking all prior wills. In the 1981, 1986 and 2002 Wills, Husband ratified the antenuptial agreement signed by the parties on August 31, 1976.

On November 28, 2001, Wife filed a complaint for absolute divorce in the Chancery Court of Madison County. However, Husband died on September 7, 2002, prior to a disposition of the divorce action.

On November 4, 2002, the Executors of the Estate of Clifford Baker, Lee King and Baker King ("Executors" or "Appellees"), filed a petition in the General Sessions Court of Madison County, Probate Division, to have Clifford Baker's May 29, 2002 Will admitted to probate. Because of the relevance of the information contained in the 2002 Will, portions are reprinted below. The Will reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

I, Clifford Franklin Baker, better known as Cliff Baker, a resident of Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee, being of sound mind and disposing memory, and being fully aware of the uncertainty of life, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, and do hereby revoke all former Wills and Testamentary Dispositions heretofore made by me.

* * *

I am presently married to TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER; however, TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER filed a Complaint for Absolute Divorce on November 28, 2001, naming me as the Defendant. There was filed, in my behalf, an Answer and Counter-Claim on December 7, 2001. There was a hearing conducted on the 10th day of December, 2001, with the Order thereon being entered on the 16th day of January.

III.

Prior to the marriage of CLIFFORD F. BAKER and TOMMIE NEAL, now, TOMMIE BAKER, the parties had executed an Ante-Nuptial Agreement signed by the parties on the 31st day of August, 1976, a copy of which is attached hereto, and marked Exhibit I to this Last Will and Testament. The Ante-Nuptial Agreement was kept with my personal belongings at my home at 36 Chickasaw Drive. While I was in the hospital, my wife, TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER, occupied my home to my exclusion and testified under oath at the hearing referred to above, conducted on December 10, 2001, that there was a Pre-Nuptial Agreement at the time of the marriage, but that the Pre-Nuptial Agreement was not in the drawer of the chest of drawers where other papers of CLIFFORD BAKER were kept.

* * *

Since my divorce from TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER is not final as of the date of the execution of this Will, I expect there to be a contest of this Will, by TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER, and hereby declare that I believe the Ante-Nuptial Agreement executed by me, CLIFFORD BAKER, and TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER on the 31st day of August, 1976, to be valid and that the original of same has now been discovered.

Since I am assuming and anticipating that there will be an attempt made by TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER to contest this Will, or an attempt by my wife, hopefully soon to be my ex-wife, TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER, to claim an elective share of my estate, should I die before the divorce is final, I wish to explain why this Will provides as it does.

My first wife, ANNIE MARY BAKER and I had no children, nor do I have children by TOMMIE GAZELLE BAKER.

My first wife's relative had children for which there were insufficient funds to support them, namely, JOHNNY GLISSON, NANCY GLISSON, AND MARY ANN GLISSON. My first wife, ANNIE MARY BAKER, and I did not adopt these children, but did care for them, and treated them as if they were born of our...