In re Estate of Gibbons

• Decision Date: 04 November 2014
• Docket Number: No. 14–13–00078–CV.,14–13–00078–CV.
• Citation: 451 S.W.3d 115
• Parties: In the ESTATE OF Cecelia Margaret GIBBONS, Deceased.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

451 S.W.3d 115

In the ESTATE OF Cecelia Margaret GIBBONS, Deceased.

No. 14–13–00078–CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

Signed Nov. 4, 2014.

Rehearing En Banc Overruled Nov. 25, 2014.

Joseph R. Willie, II, Houston, for Appellant.

Thomas Willbern, III, Bret Berly, C. Larry Carbo III, Houston, for Appellee.

Panel consists of Chief Justice FROST and Justices JAMISON and WISE.

OPINION

KEM THOMPSON FROST, Chief Justice.

This appeal arises from a core probate matter involving a contest as to which of three wills executed by the testatrix should be admitted to probate. The attorney who drafted the first two wills in dispute filed an application to probate the second will and later amended that application to seek probate of the first will. The testatrix's husband filed an application to probate the third will, and also sought declaratory relief. Two beneficiaries under the first two wills in dispute, as well as the attorney who drafted the first two wills, opposed admission of the third will to probate. After a jury trial, the trial court admitted the third will to probate, granted the testatrix's husband letters testamentary, and signed a final order granting declaratory relief requested by the testatrix's husband and awarding attorney's fees to the testatrix's husband under the Declaratory Judgments Act. Before signing the final order, the trial court signed two orders finding counsel for the parties contesting the third will to be in contempt of court for disobeying a prior court order. On appeal, the three parties who contested the admission of the third will to probate assert various challenges to the trial court's contempt orders and its final order. We dismiss the appeal to the extent the appellants attempt to challenge the contempt orders, and, except to this extent, we affirm the trial court's final order.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Dr. Cecelia Gibbons (hereinafter “Cecelia”),¹ was diagnosed with brain cancer

.² On the day of her diagnosis, May 13, 2010, Cecelia contacted her friend, appellant Christine S. Willie (hereinafter “Christine”),³ an estate planning attorney, and talked to her about estate planning. Christine prepared a will, and the next day Cecelia executed it (hereinafter the “May Will”). Six days later, Cecelia had surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Two weeks later, on June 3, 2010, Cecelia executed another will that had been prepared by Christine (hereinafter the “June Will”). Shortly thereafter, Christine sent Cecelia an email explaining the gifts under the June Will and the beneficiary designations on Cecelia's life-insurance policies. This email showed that Christine had been designated as one of the beneficiaries under two life-insurance policies. Christine's husband, appellee John Richard Shanks, testified that Cecelia was shocked and surprised to see that Christine was a beneficiary under these two life-insurance policies.

Cecelia and Shanks went to Christine's office on June 21, 2010, to pick up Cecelia's file. Christine testified that she did not see Cecelia again after that day. Within a few days, Cecelia met with attorney Carbett J. Duhon, III. Two months later, on August 26, 2010, Cecelia executed a third will that had been prepared by Duhon (hereinafter the “August Will”).

Cecelia passed away on December 9, 2010. Within the week, Christine filed an application to probate the June Will, in which Cecelia named Christine as the independent executrix of her estate. Two weeks later, Shanks filed an application in the same case to probate the August Will, in which Cecelia named Shanks as the independent executor of her estate. Six months later, Christine amended her application so that she sought to probate the May Will rather than the June Will. Christine alleged that Cecelia lacked testamentary capacity after May 20, 2010, and therefore lacked testamentary capacity when she executed the June Will and the August Will.

Shanks timely amended his application adding a number of new parties on whom citation would be served but from whom Shanks did not seek any affirmative relief. Among these parties was (1) appellant Raven A. Pitre, Cecelia's daughter, (2) appellant Gwen Stribling Henderson, a beneficiary under the May Will and the June Will but not under the August Will, (3) appellee Glenn Gibbons, Cecelia's brother, and (4) appellee Annabella Gibbons, Cecelia's mother. Glenn filed an answer and appeared in the case individually and as attorney-in-fact for Cecelia's mother Annabella. Shanks asked that the trial court admit the August Will to probate, grant him letters testamentary, and appoint him independent executor of Cecelia's estate. Shanks also sought declaratory relief under the Texas Declaratory Judgments Act and sought recovery of reasonable and necessary attorney's fees under that statute. Pitre and Henderson each filed oppositions to the probate of the August Will, alleging lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence by Shanks.

The case proceeded to trial. During trial, Henderson, Pitre, and Christine nonsuited “their entire cause of action against all other [a]pplicants.” The trial court granted Shanks a directed verdict as to the validity of the August Will and on the issue of Cecelia's capacity to execute the August Will. In answering the questions submitted in the jury charge, the jury found that Christine and Pitre did not have probable cause to contest the August Will. The jury also found the amount of a reasonable fee for the necessary services of Shanks's attorneys.

The trial court signed an order admitting the August Will to probate, denying probate as to the May Will and the June Will, and granting letters testamentary to Shanks as independent executor upon taking of the required oath. The trial court signed a final order in which it granted declaratory relief requested by Shanks. The trial court declared that, under the no-contest clause of the August Will and in light of the jury's findings that Christine and Pitre did not have probable cause to contest the August Will, the bequests to Christine and Pitre in the August Will were revoked and would pass as if the Christine and Pitre had predeceased Cecelia. The trial court also made declarations relating to the beneficiary designations under two of Cecelia's life-insurance policies. The trial court ordered Christine and Pitre to pay Shanks his reasonable and necessary attorney's fees and expenses under Section 37.009 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

Before signing the final order, the trial court signed two separate orders in which the court granted a motion for contempt filed by Shanks and found that attorney Joseph Willie, II (hereinafter “Joseph”), attorney for Henderson, Pitre, and Christine, was in contempt of court for disobeying a prior court order.

II. Issues and Analysis

On appeal, Henderson, Pitre, and Christine (hereinafter collectively the “Contestants”) present seven issues challenging the trial court's final order and two issues challenging the trial court's two contempt orders.⁴ We address the seven issues challenging the final order and the arguments under them seriatim. We then address the challenges to the contempt orders.

A. Did the trial court have subject-matter jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief regarding the life-insurance policies?

Under their first issue the Contestants assert that the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief regarding the life-insurance policies because there was no live controversy regarding who was entitled to the life-insurance proceeds. The Supreme Court of Texas has held that a request for declaratory judgment is moot if the claim presents no live controversy. See Tex. A & M Univ.-Kingsville v. Yarbrough, 347 S.W.3d 289, 290 (Tex.2011). A declaratory judgment is appropriate only if a justiciable controversy exists that will be resolved by the declaration sought. Bonham State Bank v. Beadle, 907 S.W.2d 465, 467 (Tex.1995). For a justiciable controversy to exist, there must be a real and substantial controversy involving a genuine conflict of tangible interests and not merely a theoretical dispute. See id.

In the final order, the trial court declared that (1) at all times up to and including August 26, 2010, Cecelia possessed the requisite capacity to change or update her beneficiary designations on two of her life-insurance policies; (2) Shanks did not unduly influence Cecelia to change or update the beneficiary designations on these policies; (3) Christine is not a beneficiary under either of these two policies; and (4) before her death, Cecelia validly changed the beneficiary designations on these life-insurance policies to name her estate as the sole beneficiary under these policies.

The evidence at trial showed that on January 17, 2011, Joseph sent a letter to the insurer on one of Cecelia's life-insurance policies stating that he had been retained by Christine. Joseph also notified the insurer that Christine was challenging the validity of any beneficiary changes purportedly made after June 15, 2010, to Cecelia's life insurance policy with that insurer on the basis that Cecelia lacked the capacity to contract and that she was subject to duress, coercion, and undue influence. The evidence at trial also showed that, on the same day, Christine filed a claim on this life-insurance policy.

Christine later testified at her deposition and at trial that she was no longer pursuing any claim to any proceeds under Cecelia's life-insurance policies. Even though Christine stopped pursuing any such claim, she sent a letter to one of the insurers challenging the validity of the beneficiary changes that Cecelia made after June 15, 2010, and asserting that Cecelia lacked the capacity to contract and she was subject to duress, coercion, and undue influence. Counsel for Shanks stated during a bench conference that he tried to obtain a stipulation from Christine that the beneficiary changes that Cecelia made to her...