Murray v. Estate of Murray
Decision Date | 19 January 2022 |
Docket Number | Appellate Case No. 2018-001680,Opinion No. 5890 |
Parties | Elizabeth MURRAY as Personal Representative of the Estate of Minnie H. Murray and Elizabeth Stylesetters, Appellants, v. The ESTATE OF William E. MURRAY, Respondent. |
Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
George J. Kefalos, of George J. Kefalos, PA; Oana Dobrescu Johnson, of Oana D. Johnson, Attorney at Law; and Barry I. Baker, of Baker & Varner, LLC, all of Charleston; and Stephen Michael Slotchiver, of Slotchiver & Slotchiver, LLP, of Mount Pleasant, all for Appellants.
Robert H. Hood and Mary Agnes Hood Craig, of Hood Law Firm, LLC, both of Charleston; Jean Marie Jennings, of Charleston; and Deborah Harrison Sheffield, of Columbia, all for Respondent.
LOCKEMY, A.J.:
Appellants Elizabeth Murray, as personal representative of the Estate of Minnie H. Murray (Mother's Estate), and Elizabeth Stylesetters (Stylesetters) (collectively, Appellants) appeal the circuit court's ruling affirming the probate court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Estate of William E. Murray (Murray's Estate). Appellants argue the circuit court erred in finding that (1) Mother's Estate lacked standing to bring its claim against Murray's Estate, (2) the statute of limitations and laches barred Mother's Estate's claim, and (3) judicial estoppel barred Stylesetters’ claim. We affirm.
William E. Murray (Murray) and Minnie Murray (Mother) were married in the State of New York. The couple had three daughters: Pamela Murray1 was born in 1951; Elizabeth Murray (Elizabeth) was born in 1953; and Catherine Murray was born in 1954 (collectively, Daughters). Mother passed away in 1967 shortly after the couple divorced. Murray passed away on August 4, 2007. James Ma and Hilton Smith, husband of Catherine Murray, were appointed as co-personal representatives of Murray's Estate. Elizabeth filed two creditor's claims against Murray's Estate on June 3, 2008: the first claim was for $6,260,845.70 on behalf of Mother's Estate, and the second claim was for $538,034.00 on behalf of Elizabeth's business, Stylesetters.
During their marriage, Mother pledged personal securities as collateral for a loan of $142,685 to Murray. Murray acknowledged this debt as valid and owing when the parties divorced in March of 1967, and that debt was subsequently transferred to Mother's Estate upon her death in June of 1967. In 1975, Elizabeth was appointed as the administrator of Mother's Estate.2
In 1980, Daughters, as the beneficiaries of Mother's Estate, entered an agreement with Murray (the 1980 Agreement) concerning the outstanding debt he owed to Mother's Estate. Murray agreed the outstanding balance of the loan was $240,000. The 1980 Agreement provided, "Daughters, [Mother's] Estate, and [Murray] wish to conclude the administration of the Estate of the late Minnie Holmes Murray, mother of Daughters and former wife of [Murray]; and thereby to establish the trust under the Will of [Mother] ...." Murray acknowledged he was indebted to Mother's Estate and agreed to pay $240,000 plus interest to Mother's Estate in yearly installments. For the years 1980, 1981 and 1982, Murray was to pay interest only, which was $19,200 per year; thereafter, he was to pay principal and accrued interest, amortized over a period of ten years. The 1980 Agreement provided the indebtedness bore interest of 8% per annum but the failure to make any payments when due would trigger an automatic increased interest rate of 12% per annum for the period of the unpaid installment. In addition, Murray agreed to maintain and pay premiums upon a $385,000 life insurance policy that was previously transferred to Mother's Estate. Murray made six payments on the debt until 1986 and made no further payments. He also stopped paying premiums on the life insurance policy.
Smith testified in a deposition that he assisted Daughters with Mother's Estate in the weeks prior to the 1992 Agreement. The record contains letters from Smith suggesting Daughters intended to liquidate the estate when they entered the 1992 Agreement. Smith agreed that in 1995, Murray presented a financial summary to his bank and the Small Business Administration acknowledging that he owed $1.4 million to Mother's Estate. Elizabeth testified during her March 2015 deposition that although Mother's Estate made distributions in 1992, the estate only partially liquidated its assets, and she never filed a release and discharge with the probate court.
Elizabeth wrote several letters to Murray from 1998 to 2006, in which she reminded him of the outstanding debt. The following are excerpts from Elizabeth's February 2006 letter to Murray, which Elizabeth did not discover until February 2009:
Attached to the letter was a copy of the 1980 Agreement and the payment schedule. A signature purporting to be Murray's appears at the end of the letter. Murray was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2001 when he was in his seventies, and the parties dispute whether Murray in fact signed the letter as well as whether he possessed the requisite mental capacity to do so.3
From 1999 until 2002, Elizabeth worked for Murray at his property, the Inn at Quogue, in New York. In her deposition, Elizabeth stated she expended "hundreds of thousands of dollars and interest thereon" to pay expenses at the Inn, including renovation, delivery bills, and payroll. She contended Murray agreed to pay her, as owner of Stylesetters, $2,000 per month towards those services, and that he made monthly payments on the debt until July 2007. Smith acknowledged Murray gave Elizabeth a monthly allowance of $3,000. He stated that to his knowledge, these payments were unrelated to the alleged debt due Elizabeth from the Inn at Quogue. Elizabeth testified Murray began paying her a $3,000 monthly allowance in 2003 and continued until 2006. She stated the payments Murray made from 2006 onward included $2,000 per month toward the Inn at Quogue debt.
Murray's Estate filed notices of disallowance of claim as to the claims of both Mother's Estate and Stylesetters, and Appellants subsequently filed a petition for allowance of claim for both claims. After a lengthy discovery, Murray's Estate moved for summary judgment on October 31, 2016. The probate court heard the motion in July 2017 and took the matter under advisement. Thereafter, the probate court granted summary judgment in favor of Murray's Estate.
First, the probate court found Mother's Estate lacked standing because any obligation due under the 1980 Agreement was due to Daughters jointly and not to Mother's Estate. The probate court reasoned Daughters agreed to transfer the debt to themselves jointly in the 1992 Agreement, and Elizabeth stated in her 2013 affidavit that all obligations due under the 1980 Agreement were community property between Daughters. Second, the court found the claims of Mother's Estate were barred by the statute of limitations pursuant to ...
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