Laymon v. Minn. Premier Props., LLC, A17-0162

• Decision Date: 20 June 2018
• Docket Number: A17-0162
• Citation: 913 N.W.2d 449
• Parties: Mary LAYMON as the personal representative of the Estate of Howard Arnold Laymon, Appellant, v. MINNESOTA PREMIER PROPERTIES, LLC, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

913 N.W.2d 449

Mary LAYMON as the personal representative of the Estate of Howard Arnold Laymon, Appellant,

v.MINNESOTA PREMIER PROPERTIES, LLC, et al., Respondents.

A17-0162

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Filed: June 20, 2018

Kelly Griffitts, Griffitts Law Offices, PLLC, Eagan, Minnesota, for appellant.

John G. Westrick, Westrick & McDowall-Nix, PLLP, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for respondents.

OPINION

CHUTICH, Justice.

This case requires us to decide whether, under Minnesota Statutes section 524.3-101 (2016), real property devolves to a residuary devisee immediately upon the testator’s death.

Appellant Mary Laymon, in her capacity as personal representative to her father’s estate, sued respondents Minnesota Premier Properties (Premier) and six others to quiet title to residential property owned by her father, Howard Laymon, at his death.¹ Wells Fargo bought the foreclosed property at a sheriff’s sale after Howard’s death, and Mary’s brother, John Laymon, conveyed his interest in the property by quitclaim deed to Premier a few days later. Because Howard had devised one third of the residue of his estate (which included the foreclosed property) to John, John’s ability to transfer a valid ownership interest in the property by quitclaim deed depends on whether section 524.3-101 provides for real property to devolve to a residuary devisee upon the death of the testator.

The district court concluded that John did not transfer a valid ownership interest in his father’s property and granted summary judgment to Mary. The court of appeals reversed. It interpreted the statute to allow real property to devolve immediately upon a testator’s death to a residual devisee and therefore concluded that John conveyed a valid interest in the property. Laymon v. Minn. Premier Props., LLC , 903 N.W.2d 6, 17 (Minn. App. 2017). Mary seeks review of this interpretation of section 524.3-101. We affirm the decision of the court of appeals, including its remand to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTS

In 2005, Howard bought a house, which he financed with a mortgage. He died testate almost 10 years later, in January 2015. His three adult children, Mary Laymon, John Laymon, and Janet Wolff, survived him. In his will, he named Mary as personal representative of his estate. He also devised all of his "tangible personal property" and the residue of his estate, in equal shares, to his three children.

After Howard died, the mortgage on his property went into default and, in May 2015, the bank began foreclosure proceedings. On June 29, 2015, Wells Fargo bought the property at a sheriff’s sale. Shortly after the sale, the court confirmed the appointment of Mary as personal representative and issued her letters testamentary, which enabled her to administer the estate.

Within 4 days of the sheriff’s sale, John and his wife conveyed whatever interest they had in the property to Minnesota Premier Properties, LLC (Premier) by quitclaim deed, in exchange for $10,000.² A series of transactions based on the conveyance followed,³ including Premier quitclaiming its interest in the property to Blue Gold Ventures, LLC (Blue Gold). If (and only if) John had an interest in the property at the time he conveyed it to Premier, some or all of the entities that took through Premier have an interest in the property.

On September 15, 2015, Mary, as personal representative of Howard’s estate, sued Premier, along with the other entities involved in the transactions related to the property, asserting quiet-title and slander-of-title claims regarding the property. On October 6, 2015, Blue Gold asserted itself as an owner of an interest in the property and redeemed it. Wells Fargo accepted the redemption funds and issued a Certificate of Redemption, which was recorded the same day.

In November 2015, Mary moved for partial summary judgment, and the district court held a hearing in December, about a week before the redemption period was set to expire. The district court granted Mary’s motion for partial summary judgment 3 months later, concluding that John did not have an interest to convey to Premier through the quitclaim deed.⁴

The court of appeals reversed the district court on the issue of whether John had a conveyable interest in the property. Interpreting Minnesota Statutes section 524.3-101, it held "that a valid, transferrable ownership interest in real property devolves immediately upon a testator’s death to a person to whom the property is devised by the testator’s will, even if the property is devised through a residuary clause rather than as a specific devise." Laymon , 903 N.W.2d at 17. It remanded the case to the district court with special instructions to reconsider the result of the October 6, 2015, redemption and the December 29, 2015, expiration of the redemption period. Id. at 17 n.4. Mary petitioned for review on the issue of the interpretation of section 524.3-101 and another issue; we granted review solely on the issue of statutory interpretation.

ANALYSIS

We review an appeal from summary judgment de novo, including "whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court erred in its application of the law to the facts." Commerce Bank v. W. Bend Mut. Ins. Co. , 870 N.W.2d 770, 773 (Minn. 2015). Here, we review de novo the meaning of the phrase "persons to whom it is devised by last will" in section 524.3-101 of the Uniform Probate Code to determine whether it includes residuary devisees. See Christianson v. Henke , 831 N.W.2d 532, 535 (Minn. 2013) ("The only disputed issue before us is a question of statutory interpretation, which we review de novo."). Whether John had a transferable interest in the property at the time of the quitclaim conveyance to Premier depends on this interpretation.

The dispute before us concerns the interpretation of the provision that governs the devolution of an estate at death. The provision explains when and to whom a deceased person’s property transfers. It states in full:

The power of a person to leave property by will, and the rights of creditors, devisees, and heirs to the person’s property are subject to the restrictions and limitations contained in chapters 524 and 525 to facilitate the prompt settlement of estates. Upon death, a person’s real and personal property devolves to the persons to whom it is devised by last will or to those indicated as substitutes for them in cases involving lapse, disclaimer, renunciation, or other circumstances affecting the devolution of testate estates, or in the absence of testamentary disposition, to the decedent’s heirs, or to those indicated as substitutes for them in cases involving disclaimer, renunciation or other circumstances affecting devolution of intestate estates, subject to the provisions of sections 525.14 [the descent of cemetery lots] and 524.2-402 [the descent of a homestead], the allowances provided for by sections 524.2-403 [the descent of exempt property, including a small amount of personal property] and 524.2-404 [allowing family allowance to be paid out of the state for up to 18 months], to the rights of creditors, elective share of the surviving spouse, and to administration.

Minn. Stat. § 524.3-101 (emphasis added). We have not previously interpreted this provision.

Although the parties disagree about the interpretation of this statute, no one claims that it is ambiguous. Premier contends that property subject to a residuary devise, like property subject to a specific devise, devolves instantly upon death, which would mean that John had an interest in the property when he conveyed it to Premier. We take Mary’s position to be that property in the residue does not devolve instantly to residuary devisees.⁵ The question for us to decide is whether "persons to whom it is devised by last will" includes residuary devisees. Id.

We interpret statutory language to "ascertain and effectuate" the Legislature’s intent. Minn. Stat. § 645.16 (2016). "When the words of a law in their application to an existing situation are clear and free from all ambiguity," id. , our "role is to enforce the language of the statute and not explore the spirit or purpose of the law," Christianson , 831 N.W.2d at 537 (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). In doing so, we construe the law to "give effect to all its provisions." Minn. Stat. § 645.16 ; see Allan v. R.D. Offutt Co. , 869 N.W.2d 31, 33 (Minn. 2015). We presume that the "[L]egislature intends the entire statute to be effective and certain." Minn. Stat. § 645.17(2) (2016).

In ascertaining the plain meaning of the statute, we construe "words and phrases ... according to rules of grammar and according to their common and approved usage." Minn. Stat. § 645.08(1) (2016). Here, where the Legislature has not provided definitions of the relevant terms, we may consider dictionary definitions to determine a word’s common usage. See Shire v. Rosemount, Inc. , 875 N.W.2d 289, 292 (Minn. 2016). The "relevant definition of a term depends on the context in which the term is used," State v. Nelson , 842 N.W.2d 433, 437 n.2 (Minn. 2014), and "technical words and phrases ... are construed according to [their] special meaning or their definition," Minn. Stat. § 645.08(1).

To determine whether a residuary devisee has a transferable interest in property in the residue of an estate, we interpret the meaning of the phrase "devolves to the persons to whom it is devised by last will" in section 524.3-101. "Devolve" is a legal term that means "[t]o transfer (rights, duties, powers, etc.) to another" and, when concerning money or land, means "to pass by transmission or succession." See Devolve , Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). According to the Uniform Probate Code, "[p]erson" is "an individual, a corporation, an organization, or other legal entity" and " ‘devise,’ when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal...