Marlin v. Hill

• Decision Date: 17 June 1941
• Docket Number: 13758.
• Citation: 15 S.E.2d 473,192 Ga. 434
• Parties: MARLIN et al. v. HILL.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

15 S.E.2d 473

192 Ga. 434

MARLIN et al. v. HILL.

No. 13758.

Supreme Court of Georgia

June 17, 1941

Syllabus by the Court.

When the instant caveat is stripped of all allegations as to matters which do not appear to have had any bearing or influence upon the testatrix in the execution of her will nothing remains except bare conclusions of the pleader as to fraud, scheme, devise, and undue influence. The mere general averments as to these matters being insufficient to present any issue as to invalidity of the will, the court properly sustained the general demurrer and dismissed the caveat.

This case arose by the filing of a caveat to an application for probate of a will. After appeal from the court of ordinary to the superior court, the caveat was dismissed on general demurrer and the caveators excepted pendente lite. A verdict in favor of the propounder was returned. The caveators' motion for a new trial was overruled, and they excepted assigning as error also the exceptions pendente lite.

M. G Hill, as the nomiated executor, propounded an alleged will of Mrs. Clementine Hill, who died on October 22, 1940, The will was dated July 12, 1940. Mrs. Hill was the widow of A. J. Hill, who predeceased her by about seven years. They had no children, and she inherited his estate as sole heir at law. By the will in question, she left the greater portion of her estate to M. G. Hill, a nephew and former partner of her husband, and his administrator.

The caveat by Mrs. R. R. Marlin and others, heirs at law of Mrs. Hill by collateral relationship, contained the following allegations:

There has been filed with the ordinary of Terrell County, Georgia, for probate in solemn form, an instrument purporting to be the last will and testament of Mrs. Clementine Hill, but which is void, for the reasons that the same is (1) unfair on its face, (2) an unreasonable disposition of property, and (3) obtained by the fraud and undue influence perpetrated by one Miles G. Hill, upon Mrs. Clementine Hill; the said Miles G. Hill being the chief beneficiary under said will, and receiving under said purported will the bulk of said estate, and being relieved from giving any bond, and from making any returns to any court Whatsoever.

The late Andrew J. Hill, husband of Mrs. Clementine Hill, departed this life about seven years ago, leaving his widow, Mrs. Clementine Hill, who is one and the same as Mrs. A. J. Hill, the sole heir at law, and leaving at the time of his death an estate of the net value of approximately $50,000. Andrew J. Hill died intestate.

On March 5, 1934, Miles G. Hill was appointed permanent administrator of the estate of A. J. Hill, and letters of administration of the estate were granted to Miles G. Hill by the ordinary of said county on March 5, 1934. Miles G. Hill qualified as such, and gave bond of $10,000 with the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company as surety.

We was a nephew of Andrew J. Hill, but was no blood kin to Mrs. Clementine Hill. At the time of the death of Andrew J. Hill, Miles G. Hill was his partner and interested in one-half of his business, Andrew J. Hill being in the warehouse business and the warehouse being known under the firm name of Hill and Hill. Mrs. Clementine Hill had no business experience, and relied entirely then and for the next seven years and up to the time of her death upon Miles G. Hill as her confidential and business adviser from the time of the death of her husband up to the time of her death. Miles G. Hill would sign all checks for Mrs. Clementine Hill, pay all of her bills, and handle all of her business, and she relied on him implicitly in a confidential way as her agent and trusted adviser, and in a fiduciary relationship, even to the extent of consulting him before sending for a doctor to administer to her in her ill health preceding her death.

She discussed her business matters with Miles G. Hill and no one else, and he is the only living person, other than counsel who drew the purported will, who knew its contents. Miles G. Hill, as administrator of the estate of Andrew J. Hill, did sell the lands of his intestate at administrator's sale, and fraudulently and illegally purchased them at his own sale as administrator, taking advantage of illness and confidence and fiduciary relationship which Mrs. Clementine Hill, sole heir at law, had placed in him. A copy of the annual return showing in detail the sale and purchase by the administrator at his own sale was set forth as an exhibit attached to the petition.

The administrator fraudulenty purchased the Hill & Hill warehouse at said administrator's sale, being the one-half interest of Andrew J. Hill, for $2,500, when in fact said property and worth four or five times said amount, and thereafter said warehouse was sold by Miles G. Hill for $13,000.

He purchased a two-thirds interest in 300 acres of land in the fourth district of Terrell County at said administrator's sale for $3,000, when said land at a fair valuation was worth from five to ten times said amount.

He purchased at his own sale a half interest in 304 1/2 acres in the 12th and 3rd districts of Terrell County, at the insignificant price of $750, when said property was worth at a fair valuation fifteen to twenty-five times the amount of said purchase.

Said administrator purchased at his own said sale fifty acres of land in the 3rd district of Terrell County, for the insignificant price (one-half interest) of $75, when said property was worth at a fair valuation from eight to ten times said purchase-price.

After so purchasing said property, Miles G. Hill deducted a claimed indebtedness to him by A. J. Hill for its full value. Said property, at a fair valuation, purchased by M. G. Hill at said administrator's sale, for $6,325, was worth at least $25,000. Caveators allege as a fact that the price alleged to have been paid by said administrator at said sale was grossly inadequate.

Said fraud was perpetrated upon Mrs. Clementine Hill by reason of the fact that she had no business experience, was in ill health, suffering with heart trouble, was of advanced age, and trusted and confided in the partner of her deceased husband implicitly.

Miles G. Hill then began a fraudulent scheme to obtain the estate of Mrs. Clementine Hill, and to have willed to him the bulk and corpus of her estate and have himself appointed executor thereof without bond and without being obligated to make any returns, so that this fraudulent sale could not be set aside by the heirs at law of Mrs. Clementine Hill upon her death, and so that said surety on his administrator's bond could not be sued by reason of said fraudulent administrator's sale.

Caveators allege, under the circumstances hereinbefore stated, that Mrs. Clementine Hill had a leaking heart, which gradually grew worse, and that she was confined to her home for the twelve months preceding her death on October 21, 1940; that such leaking heart would cause her to be confined to her bed and to be depressed; that she was at the time of her death seventy years of age, and prior thereto had no business experience; that she was on the best and most friendly terms with her blood kin, the plaintiffs in this case, and in fact at her own request was moved to the home of her nephew, Charlie Harris, about six weeks prior to her death, and died in his home. Nevertheless, she consulted only Miles G. Hill as her confidential and business partner, as the administrator of the estate of her deceased husband, and she relied implicitly on him to handle her business affairs as her partner, agent and representative. Miles G. Hill, taking advantage of said old age, sickness, trust, inexperience, lack of business ability and fiduciary relationship, not only acquired at a void administrator's sale the entire estate of Andrew J. Hill, but through said scheme and fraudulent practices and violation of trust and confidence, obtained the corpus of the estate of Mrs. Clementine Hill, through said void will, to the exclusion of all blood kin, Miles G. Hill being no kin whatsoever to Mrs. Clementine Hill, and having no right in law or equity to said estate, and said will was made without reason, and is unreasonable on its face, and Miles G. Hill, under the circumstances...