In re Estate of Bean, No. M2003-02029-COA-R3-CV (TN 12/1/2005)
| Decision Date | 01 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. M2003-02029-COA-R3-CV.,M2003-02029-COA-R3-CV. |
| Parties | IN RE ESTATE OF TOY M. BEAN. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Chancery Court for Williamson County; No. P023177; R.E. Lee Davies, Judge.
Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed in Part and Reversed in Part.
William Carter Conway, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert G. Bean.
Virginia Lee Story and Henry Denmark Bell, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellees, Lola Parks Blanchet, Coy Matthew Bean, Mary Katherine Harper, Beverly Ann Iott, and Roberta Lynn Faulkner.
OPINION
This appeal concerns a dispute among six siblings over the validity of their father's will. One month after his father's death, the youngest child filed a petition in the Chancery Court for Williamson County to probate a will his father had executed in July 1998. The testator's five older children contested this will on the grounds that their father lacked testamentary capacity and that the youngest child had procured the will by undue influence. Following a three day trial, a jury determined that the July 1998 will was invalid. After the trial court denied his post-trial motions, the youngest child appealed, taking issue with several evidentiary rulings, the adequacy of the instructions, and the evidentiary foundation for the verdict. We have determined that the trial court did not commit reversible error during the trial and that the record contains material evidence that the youngest child procured his father's July 1998 will by undue influence. We have also concluded that the trial court erred by requiring the estate to pay the youngest child's attorney's fees.
Toy M. Bean was born in 1920 in rural Williamson County. Despite his lack of formal education, he became a successful businessman and farmer. He fought in World War II and rose to the rank of sergeant. Following his military service, he became a successful welder, and in 1947, he married Mary Francis Bean. They had six children together: Lola Parks Blanchet, Coy Matthew Bean, Mary Catherine Harper, Beverly Ann Iott, and twins Roberta Lynn Faulkner and Robert Glen Bean. The Beans raised their children on a 24-acre farm in Franklin, Tennessee.
While working as a welder, Mr. Bean also farmed and raised livestock. In addition to these pursuits, he invested in real estate in the Franklin area and earned income from renting these properties. Mr. Bean had a keen business sense and earned a reputation in the community as a tough but fair negotiator. He worked hard to earn a living for himself and his family, and he taught his children the value of money and thoughtful spending.
When he turned sixty-one in 1981, Mr. Bean retired from welding and began a business making ladder racks in a shop on his farm. As the Beans' children grew up, they moved away from the farm to start their own families. Only the Beans' youngest son, Robert Bean, continued to live on the farm. Robert Bean drifted from job to job after graduating from high school, and eventually, Mr. Bean asked him to work with him in his ladder rack business.
The Bean family was close-knit as the children were growing up, and the children continued to have a close relationship with their parents even after leaving home. Mr. Bean and Ms. Bean experienced some turmoil in their marriage and, at one point, divorced, only to remarry and then separate. Ms. Bean died in 1996 leaving a will that divided her property equally among her six children. Following Ms. Bean's death, Mr. Bean and Robert Bean became the sole occupants of the family farm. However, Mr. Bean's five other children visited their father often. They arranged family gatherings, checked on him frequently, cleaned his house, and talked with him by telephone almost every night.
As time passed, Mr. Bean began to experience a decline in his health. In 1997, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, anemia, coronary artery disease, and a B-12 deficiency. Robert Bean was put in charge of making sure that his father received the care and medications he required. As a result of these and other medical problems, Mr. Bean became increasingly dependent on others for the first time in his life. He looked to Robert Bean and his other children for transportation and for assistance with his other needs.
Over the next year, Mr. Bean's older children began to experience difficulties contacting their father. Many times when they telephoned him, they would not receive an answer. When they made plans to visit him, they would find the farm house empty when they arrived. On occasion, Robert Bean denied his brothers and sisters access to the house. During this time, Robert Bean became more hostile toward his siblings, and they began to be concerned that he was using illegal drugs and drinking heavily at the house. When his siblings confronted Robert Bean with their suspicions, he became angry and, at times, violent.1 On other visits to the house, the children found Mr. Bean very upset because Robert Bean had passed out from drinking.
Robert Bean directed his hostility at Mr. Bean as well as his siblings. In 1997, Robert Bean telephoned his twin sister, Roberta Faulkner, to tell her that he had been arrested after he drove his truck through a gate on Mr. Bean's farm while chasing Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean apparently escaped to a neighbor's house and telephoned the authorities to tell them that he feared that Robert Bean was trying to kill him. On other similar occasions, when Mr. Bean attempted to call the police for help, Robert Bean warned his father that if he went to jail, no one would be left at home to care for him.
Members of Mr. Bean's family also observed Robert Bean cursing, yelling, threatening, and throwing objects at his father.2 Overall, the Bean family noticed that Mr. Bean appeared to be afraid of his son and that he acted differently whenever his son was present. They began to believe that Robert Bean was exerting too much control over their father.
Mr. Bean decided to execute a will in February 1998. He left the 24-acre farm to his six children. While he left the farmhouse and four surrounding acres to Robert Bean, he did not specify how the remaining property should be divided. He did specifically request, however, that none of the children sell the farm property without the consent of the other children. He left another piece of property to Coy Bean and Robert Bean and provided that the remainder of his estate should be placed in trust for his six children and divided equally among them by paying $5,000 to each child until the property was exhausted. Mr. Bean named Lola Blanchet and Beverly Iott as his executors and also executed a power of attorney authorizing them to conduct his business affairs.
Mr. Bean decided to share the contents of his February 1998 will with his children soon after he executed it. When several of his older children expressed concerns regarding how the farm property should be divided, Mr. Bean suggested that they divide the property into equal tracts and have a random drawing. He became upset when some of his children disapproved of this idea. Thereafter, the older children overheard Robert Bean telling his father that they were only interested in putting him in a nursing home and then selling his farm.3 They also heard Robert Bean tell his father to change his will because Coy Bean would be unable to manage the property that would be left to him.
Robert Bean's insinuations about his brother's and sisters' intentions to sell the family farm upset Mr. Bean a great deal. Despite their efforts to convince Mr. Bean that their primary concern was for his well-being and that they had no intention of selling the farm, the older children were unable to convince their father that they did not intend to frustrate his desire to keep the farm in the family. On June 10, 1998, Robert Bean arranged with a lawyer to prepare a new will for his father.4 On July 14, 1998, Robert Bean drove his father to the lawyer's office, and Mr. Bean executed a new will leaving his entire estate to Robert Bean. He also named Robert Bean as his executor and replaced the February 1998 power of attorney with a new power of attorney authorizing Robert Bean to conduct his business affairs. While executing his new will, Mr. Bean told the lawyer that he had decided to change his will because he was angry with his daughters. Neither Mr. Bean nor Robert Bean revealed to the other family members that Mr. Bean had executed a new will.
Mr. Bean's health began to decline rather rapidly after he executed the new will. He had missed a doctor's appointment on the day he executed the new will. Even though Mr. Bean's physician reminded Robert Bean that his father had missed the appointment, Robert Bean did not make another appointment for his father until January 1999 when Mr. Bean complained of chest pains. Mr. Bean eventually had open heart surgery in July 26, 1999 to replace a valve and to engraft three bypasses. He remained hospitalized for approximately two weeks. On August 11, 1999, shortly after Mr. Bean's release from the hospital, Robert Bean's name was added to two of Mr. Bean's bank accounts.5 Three days later, Mr. Bean returned to the hospital complaining of shortness of breath. His physician determined that his medication was not being administered properly.
A short time later, the Department of Human Services received a referral that Mr. Bean was being abused, neglected, or exploited, and in September 1999, adult protective services workers began looking into the matter. Mr. Bean was again admitted to the hospital on October 4, 1999 with an acute rib fracture. He insisted that he had fallen from some steps.
During the next several years, Mr. Bean was frequently...
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