In re Estate of Smith

• Citation: 827 So.2d 673
• Decision Date: 20 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2000-CA-00778-SCT.,2000-CA-00778-SCT.
• Parties: In the Matter of the ESTATE OF Bennie Loyd SMITH, Deceased: Tyree Irving and Ethola Irving v. Hallie Phillips Streater.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi

827 So.2d 673

In the Matter of the ESTATE OF Bennie Loyd SMITH, Deceased:

Tyree Irving and Ethola Irving v. Hallie Phillips Streater.

No. 2000-CA-00778-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 20, 2002.

Rehearing Denied October 10, 2002.

Everett T. Sanders, Natchez, attorney for appellants.

Luke J. Schissel, Greenwood, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

PITTMAN, C.J., for the court.

¶ 1. Bennie Loyd Smith died at the distinguished age of 100 on March 28, 1997. Eleven days later, Tyree Irving filed a petition to probate a will dated February 1, 1997, in the Chancery Court of the Second Judicial District of Carroll County, attesting that it was Smith's last testament. Irving was appointed executor of the estate and issued letters of administration. Four days after Irving's petition, Hallie Phillips Streater filed a writing she claimed to be Smith's last testament dated March 26, 1996, in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Carroll County. She was appointed executrix of the estate and issued letters of administration. When this competing will was discovered, the chancellor quashed Streater's letters of administration, consolidated the two cases, and treated the action as a contest of the validity of the February 1 will. The chancellor issued an opinion finding a confidential relationship existed between Smith and Irving giving rise to a presumption of undue influence; the presumption was not rebutted by Irving by clear and convincing evidence; and therefore the February 1 will was not the last testament of Bennie Smith. Irving now appeals this ruling. We affirm the trial court's judgment, finding the chancellor's opinion to be solidly grounded in fact and his analysis of the issues to be thorough and well-reasoned. We quote from his opinion at length and adopt the trial judge's opinion as the opinion of this Court.

FACTS

¶ 2. The trial court found the following:

This is an action to contest the validity of a will dated February 1, 1997, executed by Benny Lloyd Smith who was, at that time, ninety-nine years of age. At the time, Mr. Smith had no children and no brothers or sisters who were living. His nearest relatives were some nieces and nephews and many great or great-great nieces or nephews. The evidence does not indicate that Mr. Smith had a will prior to March 27, 1996. On that day, he executed a will prepared by Pat Barrett leaving his estate to a greatniece, Hallie Streater. On May 3, 1996, he executed another will prepared by Tyree Irving, by which he left a number of specific bequests to a variety of friends and relatives with the residue and bulk of the estate to Dorothy Gaston, who was not a relative, and her children. On May 22, 1996, he executed another will prepared by Tyree Irving in which he added a beneficiary to the May 3 will and added a statement about why he was not leaving any assets to Hallie Streater. On February 1, 1997, he executed his fourth will in which he made some specific bequests, but less than in the May will, and then left the residue of his estate to Tyree Irving, who he had only known for eight months, having first met him on May 3, 1996, and his wife, Ethola. This will was prepared by Solomon Osborne. The contestant in this action is Hallie Streater, the beneficiary of the March 1996 will. The Court has previously ruled that any contest of the wills would have to be tried separately since the issues and parties' positions would be different with each and that the most recent will would have to be contested first for if it is valid, there would be no necessity to deal with the other previous wills. Further, the evidence revealed a number of inter vivos gifts between May 1996, and February 1, 1997, and the Court's position is that only the beneficiary of a valid will or his heirs at law, if there is no valid will, could challenge these gifts. Thus, the validity of the gifts cannot be addressed until the validity of the wills is resolved. Hallie Streater, the beneficiary of the first will, is the only contestant, but all the beneficiaries of the last three wills and all the heirs have been made parties since they are all interested parties and are necessary parties under the will contest statute.

After hearing the evidence, the chancellor concluded that the February 1, 1997, will was indeed the product of undue influence placed upon Smith by Irving. He therefore entered an order revoking the probate of the February 1 will. Irving offers us three issues for review.

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN CONCLUDING THAT A PRESUMPTION OF UNDUE INFLUENCE AROSE FROM TYREE IRVING'S RELATIONSHIP WITH MR. SMITH.

II. WHETHER, ASSUMING THE EXISTENCE OF A PRESUMPTION OF UNDUE INFLUENCE, THE TRIAL COURT USED AN ERRONEOUS LEGAL STANDARD FOR DETERMINING WHETHER THE PROPONENTS, TYREE AND ETHOLA IRVING, OVERCAME THE PRESUMPTION.

III. WHETHER, ASSUMING THE EXISTENCE OF A PRESUMPTION OF UNDUE INFLUENCE, THE TRIAL COURT'S CONCLUSIONS THAT THE PROPONENT'S PROOF FELL SHORT OF THE LEGAL REQUIREMENT TO OVERCOME THE PRESUMPTION OF UNDUE INFLUENCE WAS MANIFESTLY WRONG OR CLEARLY ERRONEOUS.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 3. A chancellor's findings of fact will not be disturbed unless they are manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous, or unless the chancellor applied an erroneous legal standard. Estate of Grantham v. Roberts, 609 So.2d 1220, 1223 (Miss.1992). Reversal is not warranted by this Court if the chancellor's findings are supported by substantial, credible evidence which support the findings. Estate of Grubbs, 753 So.2d 1043, 1046 (Miss.2000).

DISCUSSION

¶ 4. To begin our analysis of each issue, we resume with the chancellor's opinion:

At the inception of the trial, the proponent of the will introduced the will and the proofs of will filed with it with the Clerk and the order admitting it to probate. With this introduction, the proponents made a prima facie case of the validity of the will. In Re Estate of Smith,722 So.2d 606; In Re Estate of Edwards, 520 So.2d [1370,] 1372

; Harris v. Sellers, 446 So.2d 1012.

In her contest of the will, Hallie Streater alleges that Benny Lloyd Smith lacked the mental capacity to make a will on February 1, 1997, and that the February 1, 1997, will was a result of undue influence. This Court will address these two issues separately.

In connection with the execution of the wills on May 3, 1996, May 22, 1996, and February 1, 1997, portions of the proceedings were videotaped. From the videos, much can be seen about Mr. Smith. They reveal that Mr. Smith clearly knew who his relatives and natural objects of his bounty were. He was able to relate the names of his brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, and many of his great nieces and nephews and was able to provide specific data about them. He was able to give a detailed and specific reason why he wanted to leave nothing to his one stepchild. He had specific reasons for some of the specific bequests contained in the will. All of the parties involved in the preparation of the will on February 1, 1997, were of the opinion that he was competent and understood what he was doing on the day that he signed the will. For the February 1 will, there were two separate meetings with Mr. Osborne and videos were made on both days. Both of these reveal that he was aware of the facts on both of those occasions. In Estate of Edwards, 520 So.2d 1370 [1372], the Court stated the requirements for determining competency to make a will as follows:

"Consistently, this Court has held that the test of one's capacity to execute a will, `is the ability of the testator at the time to understand or appreciate the nature and effect of his act, the natural objects or persons to receive his bounty and their relationship to him, and is capable of determining what disposition he desires to make of his property.' Such capacity, `is to be tested as of the day of the execution.'"

There was testimony by witnesses for the contestant that, at times, Mr. Smith was confused, but none of this reflects his condition on February 1, 1997. In light of these requirements for determining competence from the evidence and in particular the videos, this Court is of the opinion that Mr. Smith had the mental capacity on February 1, 1997, to execute a valid will.

Having determined that Mr. Smith had the capacity to execute a will, the Court will now address the matter of undue influence. In doing so, the Court must first state there is no direct evidence that Tyree or Ethola Irving ever exerted any undue influence over Benny L. Smith. The Court's [sic] of the State have recognized that there is seldom ever any direct proof of undue influence since it usually occurs when no one else is present and it is accomplished in a subtle way. Croft v. Alder, 237 Miss. 713, 115 So.2d [683,] 686. Since this is usually the case the Supreme Court has created a presumption of undue influence that arises in certain situations as is set out in the cases hereinafter cited. This being true, the Court must determine whether the presumption applies to the facts here. In May 1996, Tyree Irving, an attorney, began providing legal services for Mr. Smith for, during that month, he prepared two wills for him. In September 1996, Mr. Irving began helping Mr. Smith in his dealings with his bank relative to discrepancies he thought existed in his bank account. During the period from May 1996 January 1997, Mr. Smith regularly visited Mr. Irving's office, and Mr. Irving began frequently visiting Mr. Smith at his home. In December 1996, Mr. Irving had more dealings with the bank about Mr. Smith's account, and in January 1997, Mr. Smith gave $22,000.00 to Mr. Irving's wife and daughter, mother and mother-in-law, and later in that month, gave Mr. Irving $10,000.00. When the idea of leaving his estate to Mr. and Mrs. Irving came up, Mr. Irving referred Mr. Smith to another lawyer for the preparation of that will, but after that referral, Mr. Irving continued to have his name on Mr. Smith's bank

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