Miller v. Martin
| Decision Date | 31 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 10409,10409 |
| Citation | 93 Idaho 924,478 P.2d 874 |
| Parties | Clinton H. MILLER, Lorraine Miller, Rudolph C. Schulz, Sarah M. Schulz, Ernest Stillwell, G. G. Sanders, R. W. Schulz, Edward F. Backer, Individually and collectively under the firm name and style of Red Mountain Lode Mining Company, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Hubert MARTIN, Petitioner for letters of administration in the Estate of Robert L. Chandler, deceased, Defendant-Respondent. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Anderson, Kaufman, Anderson & Ringert, Boise, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Calvin Dworshak, Boise, for defendant-respondent.
The appellants, under the firm name of Red Mountain Lode Mining Company, initiated an action to contest the will of Robert L. Chandler, who was indebted to them. From a judgment of the district court holding that the appellants as mere creditors lacked standing to contest the Chandler will under I.C. § 15-210, which allows 'interested persons' and creditors to contest a will, this appeal was perfected.
Robert L. Chandler, a resident of Lovelock, Nevada, died in Boise, Idaho on February 12, 1967. At the time of his death, Chandler's estate included real and personal property in Nevada, and real property in Idaho consisting of an approximate 60 per cent ownership interest in certain mining claims in the Yellow Pine Mining District of Valley County.
The last will and testament of the decedent, which was executed by him on February 8, 1967, was offered for probate in Pershing County, Nevada, and was admitted to probate without contest. Shortly thereafter, the respondent, Hubert Martin, an attesting witness to the will and a legatee and devisee under the will, filed a petition for probate of the will and issuance of letters of administration with the will annexed in the probate court for Valley County, Idaho. Filed with the petition was a duly authenticated copy of the probate proceedings in the State of Nevada. The appellants filed a contest to the probate of the will, alleging an interest as creditors by virtue of a lease and option to purchase certain mining claims owned by the deceased, and by virtue of an alleged cause of action against the estate for actual or constructive eviction from the mining property and for damages to mining equipment owned by them. In the contest, they asserted that the purported will was not executed and witnessed according to the law of the State of Idaho since one of the attesting witnesses, Hubert Martin, was a devisee named in the will.
Respondent thereupon filed a general and special demurrer and motion to dismiss appellants' Second Amended Contest, and supporting briefs were filed by both parties. 1 After a hearing, the probate court found that appellants were creditors having substantial claims for damages and interested in the estate of the deceased in that the appellants' leasehold interest in said mining claims and the appellants' operation of the mining property would be affected by the administration of the decedent's estate and by the devolution of the decedent's interest in such mining claims. The court then concluded that appellants were entitled to contest the probate of the will, and that the will was invalid because one of the attesting witnesses was a devisee under the will. Upon appeal to the district court, respondent filed his motion to dismiss the Second Amended Contest. Briefs were filed by both parties and the case was heard de novo. The court concluded that although the appellants were creditors of the estate, they were not 'interested' creditors of the estate as required by I.C. § 15-210, and therefore had no standing to contest probate of the will. The court further held that the fact that a witness to the will is also a devisee would not automatically defeat the will, but would merely be a factor to be considered regarding the credibility of the witness' testimony. The court thereupon remanded the case to the probate court with directions to dismiss the appellants' contest and to admit the will to probate upon proper showing of all jurisdictional requirements. From that decision, appellants bring this appeal.
Appellants' specifications of error concern mainly the two points in contention in the lower courts: (1) Whether the appellants as creditors have standing to contest probate of the will; and (2) whether a will duly admitted to probate in another state is void in Idaho where one of the attesting witnesses is also a devisee.
The first question, concerning standing, is controlled by I.C. § 15-210, which states:
The interest indicated in the first sentence of § 15-210 concerns the actual operation of the will and the devolution of the property of the estate. Ordinarily a contestant is interested when he shows he could take property under the decedent's will, or, by somehow defeating a will, take by intestate succession.
Creditors of an estate would seemingly, under most circumstances, not be affected by the mechanics of the distribution of property from the estate. Creditors have a prior claim on the estate's property and no will provisions can prevent creditors from having their debts paid first. Monroe v. Cooper, 235 Mass. 33, 126 N.E. 286 (1920); 2 Page on Wills, § 618 at p. 170.
An examination of the second sentence of § 15-210 shows that creditors of an estate are given a right to contest the probate of a will. This court cannot conceive of the occasion where a creditor would have an interest in the operation of the will. However, the statute is clear and must be applied to this case. 2
An inherent duty of any court is to inquire into the underlying interest at stake in a legal proceeding. Doing so ensures the rational operation of the legal process. Therefore, in every lawsuit there must be what is called a justiciable interest cognizable in the courts as a precondition to any party maintaining a lawsuit. 67 C.J.S. Parties § 6a, p. 899 (1950). As pointed out above, it would seem as a general proposition that these creditor-appellants are not asserting the typical justiciable interest contemplated by § 15-210.
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