In re Quinn
| Docket Number | M2022-00532-COA-R3-CV |
| Decision Date | 07 August 2023 |
| Parties | IN RE ESTATE OF ERVIN JACK QUINN |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Appeals |
Session January 5, 2023
Appeal from the Chancery Court for Houston County No. 2017-PR-226 Larry J. Wallace, Judge
A surviving spouse brought this action against the estate of her deceased husband and his ex-wife and children. The surviving spouse sought to set aside the decedent's inter vivos transfer of three properties to the ex-wife and children and/or to have the value of the transferred property included in the decedent's net estate under Tennessee Code Annotated § 31-1-105, which applies when a decedent transferred property "with an intent to defeat the surviving spouse's elective or distributive share." The decedent conveyed the properties within three days of his death by quitclaim deed for no consideration other than love and affection. One of the deeds was executed by the decedent, and the other two deeds were executed by the decedent's attorney-in-fact his daughter. The chancellor referred all issues in dispute to a special master who found that the properties conveyed by the attorney-in-fact were conveyed with the intent to defeat the plaintiff's elective share but that the third tract which was conveyed by the decedent, was not. The chancellor adopted the report and recommendations of the special master. This appeal followed. After considering the factors identified in Finley v. Finley, 726 S.W.2d 923 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1986) and the totality of the circumstances we hold that all three properties were conveyed with the intent to defeat the plaintiff's elective share. Thus, we reverse, in part, the judgment of the trial court and remand for entry of a judgment consistent with this opinion, including a recalculation of the surviving spouse's elective share based on a net estate that includes all three properties at issue.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Remanded
Jim Sowell, Dickson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Elizabeth Carol Quinn.
Timothy V. Potter and Jennifer Foster, Dickson, Tennessee, for the appellees, Beverly Quinn, Wanda Jean Cooke, Dale Ervin Quinn, Shane Henry Quinn, David Nelson Quinn, and Wendell Quinn.
OPINION
Ervin Jack Quinn ("Decedent") and Elizabeth Carol Quinn ("Plaintiff") were married in New Hampshire in 1985. The following year, the couple moved to Erin, Tennessee, where they bought a 132-acre farm on Bledsoe Lane ("the Bledsoe Lane Property"). The couple resided there until 2001,[1] when Plaintiff moved out of the marital residence. Prior to moving out, Plaintiff quitclaimed her interest in the Bledsoe Lane Property to Decedent for nominal consideration.[2] Although they maintained separate homes until Decedent's death, Plaintiff and Decedent never divorced.
After the separation, Decedent bought two additional tracts of land. In 2001, he bought a 5-acre parcel on Keel Hollow Lane, and in 2008 he bought a 1-acre lot on Minor Lane.
Decedent subsequently reunited with his ex-wife, Beverly Quinn, with whom he had five adult children.[3] Thereafter, Decedent resided with Beverly Quinn on the Bledsoe Lane Property until his death in August 2017.
Six months before his death, in February 2017, Decedent filed a complaint for divorce against Plaintiff on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and separation of more than two years. The divorce complaint was still pending at the time of Decedent's death. Following his death, the divorce complaint was dismissed as moot.
Then, in June 2017, Decedent executed a will that devised a life estate in the Bledsoe Lane Property to Beverly Quinn, with the remainder interest going to three of his adult children-Wanda Cooke, Dale Quinn, and Shane Quinn. The will bequeathed the rest and residue of Decedent's estate to Wanda Cooke, Dale Quinn, and Shane Quinn. Decedent's will neither provided for nor mentioned Plaintiff. Contemporaneous with the execution of the will, Decedent executed a durable power of attorney that named his daughter, Wanda Cooke, as his attorney-in-fact.
On August 21, 2017, only three days before his death from a long illness, Decedent executed a quitclaim deed that conveyed the Bledsoe Lane Property to Ms. Cooke, Dale Quinn, Shane Quinn, and a fourth adult child, David Quinn. As in his will, Decedent reserved a life estate on the Bledsoe Lane Property for his ex-wife, Beverly Quinn. The next day, Ms. Cooke executed quitclaim deeds for the Minor Lane and Keel Hollow Lane properties under her power of attorney, conveying the properties to herself, Dale Quinn, Shane Quinn, and David Quinn. All three conveyances were made "FOR LOVE AND EFFECTION [sic] AND OTHER VALUBLE [sic] CONSIDERATION." The deeds were registered on August 22, 2017. Decedent died two days later, on August 24, 2017.
Decedent was 78 years old at the time of death. The death certificate stated that Decedent's cause of death was "carcinoma of the lungs" with an onset of "months." Although he was still married to Plaintiff when he died, Decedent's death certificate and obituary listed Beverly Quinn as his surviving spouse, and no one notified Plaintiff of his passing. Plaintiff learned about Decedent's death in October 2017 when she received a letter from the Social Security Administration.
The following month, on November 2, 2017, Plaintiff commenced this action in which she sought to open Decedent's estate and to set aside the three conveyances mentioned above as fraudulent. Specifically, she asserted that the properties were includable in Decedent's estate under Tennessee Code Annotated § 31-1-105, which applies when a decedent transfers property "with an intent to defeat the surviving spouse's elective or distributive share." Plaintiff also claimed a 40% elective share plus a one-year cash allowance, a cash homestead, and exempt property.[4] Beverly Quinn and Decedent's adult children (collectively "Defendants") filed a timely answer to the complaint denying the claim that the conveyances were fraudulent or intended to defeat Plaintiff's rights as the surviving spouse.
On August 21, 2018, Wanda Cooke filed a petition to probate Decedent's will ("the Will") and grant letters testamentary. Pending a hearing on the petition, the court entered an order opening a probate estate and appointing an interim administrator.
Plaintiff amended her complaint twice with leave of court. In July 2018, Plaintiff filed her First Amended Complaint, requesting that her homestead allowance of $5,000 in cash. In February of 2019, Plaintiff filed her Second Amended Complaint, requesting the court to bring the three properties back into the estate, determine the value of the estate, and enter judgment for Plaintiff's homestead allowance, personal property claim, year's support, and distributive share.
On March 25, 2019, the trial court entered an agreed order stating that Plaintiff was entitled to an elective share, one-year's support and maintenance, and a homestead allowance. The order also directed that Decedent's real and personal property be appraised.
Following a hearing, the court admitted the Will to probate, relieved the interim administrator, and appointed Ms. Cooke as the executrix of Decedent's estate. Thereafter, the parties stipulated to the values of Decedent's real and personal property, including the three disputed properties, which the court approved by order entered on June 17, 2019. The order also stated that Plaintiff would receive a forty percent (40%) elective share of the estate,[5] the amount of which to be determined later, a year's support in the amount of $19,033, and a homestead allowance of $5,000.
On July 15, 2019, Wanda Cooke filed a motion to exclude the Bledsoe Lane Property and the two smaller tracts from Decedent's net estate, arguing that he did not own them at the time of his death. Following a hearing on the motion and other pending matters, the chancellor referred the case to Special Master Mike Bullion "to resolve all disputed issues."
After an evidentiary hearing in which Plaintiff and Ms. Cooke were the only witnesses, the Special Master found that the two smaller tracts of real property-the Keel Hollow and Minor Lane properties-were conveyed with an intent to defeat Plaintiff's elective share. The Special Master found significant Ms. Cooke's testimony that she executed the deeds to the Keel Hollow and Minor Lane properties "because it was the way her father (the decedent) wanted it in his will, and that [was] how her father's prior lawyer wanted it done." As for the 132-acre tract, the Bledsoe Lane Property, the Special Master concluded that Decedent had executed the deed out of gratitude for and in consideration of Beverly Quinn's care of Decedent during his last illness, not with an intent to defeat Plaintiff's elective share. Based on these and other findings, the Special Master included the Keel Hollow and Minor Lane properties in Decedent's net estate but not the Bledsoe Lane Property.
As for Plaintiff's other spousal interests, the Special Master found that Plaintiff was entitled to a Ford truck and a stock trailer, each valued at $1,000, as well as $5,000 for her homestead allowance and approximately $19,000 for her one-year's support.
The trial court adopted the Special Master's report verbatim over Plaintiff's objections and entered its final order as to Plaintiff on March 30, 2022. This appeal followed.
Plaintiff raises three issues on appeal, which we have restated as follows:
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