In re Estate of Pringle

• Decision Date: 28 May 2008
• Docket Number: No. 24506.,24506.
• Parties: In the Matter of the ESTATE OF Mary Louise PRINGLE, Deceased.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

751 N.W.2d 277

2008 SD 38

In the Matter of the ESTATE OF Mary Louise PRINGLE, Deceased.

No. 24506.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Argued January 9, 2008.

Decided May 28, 2008.

Eric J. Pickar, Gregory J. Erlandson, Allen G. Nelson of Bangs, McCullen, Butler, Foye and Simmons, L.L.P. Rapid City, South Dakota, Attorneys for appellants interested person Judith Maxwell & Thomas Pringle.

Brian L. Utzman of Smoot & Utzman, P.C., Rapid City, South Dakota, Attorneys for appellee Ronald H. Pringle.

GILBERTSON, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1.] On February 20-22 and 27, 2007, a trial was held in the South Dakota Seventh Judicial Circuit to decide the validity of land conveyances executed by Mary Louise Pringle (Mary) prior to her death and whether to admit for probate her last will and testament dated September 26, 2000. On March 27, 2007, the circuit court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law and on April 2, 2007, it entered its judgment and order validating the land conveyances and admitting the will to probate. Mary's children, Judith Maxwell (Judy) and Thomas Pringle Jr. (Tom), appeal. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

[¶ 2.] Mary and Thomas Pringle, Sr. (Tom, Sr.) were married in 1946. The couple raised four children, Judy, Ronald (Ron), Tom and Charles (Chuck). Mary and Tom, Sr. farmed in the Bridgewater, South Dakota area and later operated a laundry in Pierre, South Dakota for many years.

[¶ 3.] The farming operation consisted of the Pringle homestead quarter section¹ and three additional quarters totaling 640 acres located in McCook County, South Dakota near Bridgewater. In the late 1960s Mary and Tom, Sr. turned the day-to-day farming operations over to Chuck. Chuck managed the farm until 1987. At that time Ron, who lived in Bridgewater, took over the farming operations.

[¶ 4.] Mary and Tom, Sr. eventually retired to a home in Hill City, South Dakota. The couple neighbored in Hill City with Joel and Gloria Pine. Joel was retired from the South Dakota Highway Patrol. He had worked in Pierre over the years and had known Mary and Tom, Sr. from their laundry business.

[¶ 5.] On February 25, 1988, Mary and Tom, Sr. executed wills. The wills provided that each spouse was primary beneficiary of the other's estate, but that if either spouse predeceased the other, all of the surviving spouse's real and personal property would be equally devised to Judy, Ron and Tom.² Mary and Tom, Sr. held their real property in joint tenancy.

[¶ 6.] On March 18, 1998, Mary signed a power of attorney form "for healthcare purposes only" that was provided by the Rapid City Regional Hospital. Judy was designated as Mary's health care agent. Tom was named first alternate and Ron was named second alternate. Joel and Gloria Pine served as witness to Mary's signature on the document.

[¶ 7.] On April 13, 1998, Tom, Sr. died. At the trial, Gloria Pine testified that the death of Tom, Sr. marked the point at which Mary's physical and mental health, as well as her personal hygiene began to gradually deteriorate. There is no dispute that following the death of Tom, Sr., Ron made frequent trips to Hill City to visit his mother. Several people from the Hill City area who had known Mary, including Pennington County Sheriff's Deputy, Jeromey Smith (Deputy Smith), who had been dispatched to her home repeatedly to check on her well being, and Mary's friends and neighbors the Pines, offered testimony that Mary trusted Ron very much and came to rely on him to a great extent. The two exchanged daily telephone calls to the point that Ron would call his mother before leaving home so that she would know that she would not be able to reach him for a time.

[¶ 8.] In August 2000, Mary contacted her long-time attorney Michael Unke (Unke), a Bridgewater native practicing in Salem, South Dakota, about drawing up a durable power of attorney and living will (POA). Mary and Tom, Sr. had had a relationship with Unke that dated back to about 1988 when the couple had retained him to draft some farm leases. Unke thereafter had regular contact with Mary and Tom, Sr. Unke testified that Mary had seen a news article about POAs and had sent it to him and that she sought his opinion as to whether she should have one. Unke stated that during their discussion, Mary told him that she wanted Ron to make medical decisions and handle her affairs if she became unable to do so because she trusted him. Unke drafted the document and sent it to Mary in Hill City on or around August 18, 2000. The Pines and Neil Holzwarth (Holzwarth), vice president of First Western Bank in Hill City, testified that Mary subsequently contacted them and asked them to come to her home for the signing. On August 23, 2000, Holzwarth notarized the document while the Pines witnessed her signature. Ron was not present.

[¶ 9.] Earlier in August 2000, Ron and Tom stayed at Mary's house in Hill City while attending the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. While there, Tom drained the sewage from his motor home into the septic tank at his mother's house. According to Ron, he helped Tom remove the cap from the clean-out so that Tom could run his sewer line into the tank. Ron then left, but told Tom to make sure that he replaced the cap when finished.

[¶ 10.] On September 9, 2000, Tom, who lived in Chamberlain, South Dakota, received a phone call from Mary, berating him for not properly replacing the cap to the clean-out, which Tom denied. Tom testified that at the conclusion of this call, Mary told him, "This was your mother. You'll never hear from me again." Disturbed by the call, Tom contacted Ron to inquire if he knew anything about the cap and why Mary would have become so agitated. According to Tom, Ron told him that he had been out policing the property after the Rally and found the cap askew, straightened it, and also informed Mary. Ron testified that when his mother asked if Tom was responsible he replied that he did not think so, but rather neighborhood kids, whom Mary had seen running about the yard recently, could have been responsible. Tom testified that he did not ever recall asking Ron to help straighten out the disagreement with his mother. Tom did not speak to his mother again until 2004.

[¶ 11.] Later on September 9, 2000, Tom contacted Judy to inform her about the call he had received from Mary. Judy, who lived in Pierre, became very upset with Mary based on Tom's account of the call. That same day, Judy called her mother. According to her testimony, Judy did all of the talking and "didn't give [Mary] a chance to say anything." The telephone call ended when Judy hung up on her mother.³ Following the September 9 call, Judy had no contact with her mother until 2005.

[¶ 12.] In mid September 2000, Mary again contacted Unke. According to Unke, Mary discussed with him her desire to have the McCook County farm pass to Ron outside her will. Unke testified during a deposition and at trial that "it was very important to her" that the farm remained intact and in the Pringle name. He stated that in the past he had conversations with Mary where she indicated to him that "she was very close to Ron; that he had been handling the farm; and that she wanted to keep the farm in the family" and that Ron would do so. Conversely, Mary stated that Judy and Tom, who were not interested in farming "would just sell it to get the money."

[¶ 13.] At Mary's request, Unke drafted a deed conveying the McCook County farm to her and Ron in joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Unke also drafted a new will that expressly set out Mary's intent to have joint tenancy property pass outside the will with the remainder of her estate to be divided equally among Judy, Ron and Tom. Unke sent the documents to Mary under separate covers of transmittal with instructions for proper execution.⁴ Mary again contacted the Pines and Holzwarth to assist with execution of the documents. On September 19, 2000, Holzwarth came to Mary's house in Hill City to notarize her signature on the deed. On September 26, Holzwarth returned to Mary's house to notarize her signature on the new will and there again met the Pines who acted as witnesses. Ron was not present at the signing of either document.

[¶ 14.] In 2002, Mary once again contacted Unke and requested that he draft another deed, this time to convey her home in Hill City to herself, Ron and his son Ronnie in joint tenancy. Unke drew up the deed and on September 20, 2002, sent it to her under cover of transmittal with instructions for proper execution. Again, Mary contacted Holzwarth and asked him to come to her house to notarize her signature on the deed. Mary signed the deed on September 27, 2002. On April 4, 2003, Mary signed a third deed transferring three lots in the City of Bridgewater to Ron for "$500.00 and other good and valuable consideration."

[¶ 15.] Mary's physical and mental deterioration accelerated during the latter part of 2003 into 2004 and in 2005, she was moved to a nursing home at the Beverly Healthcare facility in Rapid City. Mary died on August 4, 2005. Under the provisions of the September 26, 2000 will, Mary had nominated and appointed Ron as personal representative for the estate. On September 19, 2005, Ron filed a petition with the circuit court for formal probate of the will and acceptance of appointment.

The February 20-22 and 27, 2007 trial followed Judy's and Tom's objection to the will and appointment of Ron.

[¶ 16.] Judy and Tom argued at trial that due to her failing mental and physical condition following the death of Tom, Sr. in 1998, Mary was incompetent and lacked testamentary capacity at the time she signed the September 26, 2000 will and that the will was the product of Ron's undue influence upon her such that it was not valid. Moreover, they asserted that Ron took advantage of his confidential relationship with Mary and her failing condition in order to fracture their relationship with her so that he could gain title to the McCook County farm,...