Pearce v. Briggs

• Decision Date: 04 August 2021
• Docket Number: F080403
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Everett Earle PEARCE, Jr., as Trustee, etc. et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. Charles BRIGGS, Jr., Individually and as Trustee, etc. et al., Objectors and Respondents.

68 Cal.App.5th 466

283 Cal.Rptr.3d 608

Everett Earle PEARCE, Jr., as Trustee, etc. et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,

v.Charles BRIGGS, Jr., Individually and as Trustee, etc. et al., Objectors and Respondents.

F080403

Court of Appeal, Fifth District, California.

Filed August 4, 2021

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing August 31, 2021

Darling & Wilson, Joshua G. Wilson, Anton H. Labrentz, and Nathaniel J. Oleson, for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

LeBeau-Thelen and Andrew K. Sheffield, Bakersfield, for Objectors and Respondents.

SMITH, J.

This is a probate matter involving two groups of rival claimants regarding two parcels of real property in Bakersfield. Each group of claimants filed a petition to establish their claims on the properties, and opposed the petition filed by the other group. Both petitions were tried concurrently in a bench trial, resulting in a ruling and judgment in favor of one group of claimants as to both properties. We affirm the trial court's ruling and judgment.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The underlying judgment encompasses two probate petitions. The first petition was filed on April 26, 2011, by the appellants in this matter, Everett Earle Pearce, Jr., and Flora Geraldene Crawford (collectively, Pearce Parties), and was entitled "Petition to Determine Title to Property and Compel its Return and Transfer to Court Appointed Personal Representative of Ruth L. Briggs; Double Damages Under Probate Code § 859." The Pearce Parties supplemented the petition on July 25, 2011 and September 14, 2011. The probate court granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by the parties objecting to the petition (see below). The Pearce Parties thereafter filed, on August 26, 2014, the operative "Amended Petition to Determine Title to Property and Compel its Return and Transfer to a Court Appointed Personal Representative of Ruth L. Briggs; Double Damages Under Probate Code § 859" (Pearce Petition). The Pearce Petition involved two parcels of real property in Bakersfield referred to in the proceedings below as the "Gibson property"¹ and the "Rosedale property."² The Pearce Petition sought confirmation of title in both the Gibson and Rosedale properties on behalf of the Estate of Ruth L. Briggs, in which estate the Pearce Parties had an interest.

The parties objecting to the Pearce Petition were Charles J. Briggs, Jr., and Margaret Briggs Arroyo, individually and in their capacities as trustees of the Charles John Briggs Individual Living Trust Dated December 13, 1995, and Teresa Briggs Schwerdt. On November 30, 2015, Charles J. Briggs, Jr., and Margaret Briggs Arroyo (collectively, Briggs Parties), in their capacities as trustees of the Charles John Briggs Individual Living Trust Dated December 13, 1995, filed a petition entitled "Petition to Establish the Charles John Briggs Individual Living Trust Dated December 13, 1995's Claim of Ownership" (Briggs Petition). The Briggs Petition sought to quiet title to the Gibson and Rosedale properties in the name of the Charles John Briggs Individual Living Trust Dated December 13, 1995. The Pearce Parties objected to the Briggs Petition.

The Pearce Petition and Briggs Petition were tried concurrently in a bench trial. The evidentiary phase of the trial occurred over four afternoons in February 2019 (February 19, 20, 21, and 28, 2019). The Pearce Parties presented their case first, calling as witnesses, Everett Earle Pearce, Jr., and Flora Geraldene Crawford. Thereafter, the Briggs Parties called their witnesses, namely, Melissa Briggs (wife of Charles J. Briggs, Jr.), and Margaret Briggs Arroyo. The Pearce Parties then recalled Everett Earle Pearce, Jr., and, thereafter, the Briggs Parties recalled Margaret Briggs Arroyo. Following the evidentiary phase of the trial, the parties submitted closing briefs. Subsequently, on May 15, 2019, the trial court heard oral closing arguments.

On July 29, 2019, the trial court issued a "Ruling on Court Trial." The trial court denied the Pearce Petition and granted the Briggs Petition. The Pearce Parties requested a statement of decision. On November 4, 2019, the trial court issued a "Final Amended Statement of Decision" (statement of decision) regarding the Pearce and Briggs Petitions. On the same date, the court entered a "Judgment After Trial," denying the Pearce Petition and granting the Briggs Petition. The Pearce Parties subsequently filed the instant appeal challenging the court's denial of the Pearce Petition.

FACTS ESTABLISHED AT TRIAL

The trial court, based on the evidence presented at trial, made relevant findings of fact as reflected in its statement of decision. These findings of fact are related, essentially verbatim, in the parties' briefs, as the (undisputed) facts underpinning the claims at issue on appeal. We will therefore delineate below the trial court's findings of fact as reflected in its statement of decision.

Ruth Briggs (Ruth) married Charles John Briggs, Sr., on February 2, 1949 (Charles John Briggs, Sr., was known as Jack; he was referred to as Jack in the proceedings below, and we will refer to him interchangeably as Jack or Charles John Briggs, hereafter).

At the time of the marriage, Ruth already had two biological children, Everett Earle Pearce, Jr. (Earle) and Flora Geraldene Crawford (Geri). After they married, Ruth and Jack adopted three children: Margaret Briggs (Margaret or Margaret Briggs Arroyo), Charles John Briggs, Jr. (John), and Teresa Briggs (Teresa or Teresa Briggs Schwerdt).

On August 12, 1955, Briggs Oil Co., a 50-50 general partnership between Jack and his brother, Tom Briggs, bought the property located at 3940 Rosedale Highway, Bakersfield (the Rosedale property). (The question of whether the partnership itself was formed before or after the marriage of Ruth and Jack was not resolved at trial.)

On October 30, 1959, Ruth and Jack bought the Gibson property and took title as joint tenants. On May 6, 1980, Ruth and Jack conveyed an undivided 12.5 percent interest in the Gibson property to Jack's sister, Marie Schweifler, leaving Ruth and Jack with an 87.5 percent interest held in joint tenancy.

On September 8, 1983, Ruth executed a will (Ruth's will or Ruth's 1983 will) prepared by attorney Thomas Underhill. Ruth's will created an "A" trust and a "B" trust and ultimately provided for equal distribution of her estate to each of her five children after the death of Jack. Ruth's will included a provision stating that all property owned by Jack and her, including property to which they held title in joint tenancy, was intended to be their community property, and that her community property share was to be distributed according to the provisions in her will. Jack was named as executor of Ruth's estate in Ruth's will.

On April 1, 1988, Ruth died. Thereafter, Underhill told Jack that he should probate Ruth's will, but Jack refused. On November 15, 1988, Jack executed a will prepared by Underhill. The will left Jack's estate to the five children in equal shares. A copy of this will was provided to Geri (one of the Pearce Parties) in 1988. Jack also executed an affidavit of death of joint tenant concerning the Gibson property and recorded it on January 30, 1989, against the advice of Underhill, who was of the view that doing so would violate Ruth's will.

On February 7, 1989, Jack and his brother, Tom, dissolved Briggs Oil Co. and each partner received a 50 percent interest as tenants in common in the Rosedale property by recorded deed.

On December 13, 1995, Jack created the Charles John Briggs Individual Living Trust (Jack's 1995 trust). Jack named himself as trustee and Margaret and John as successor trustees. Under the trust, Margaret, John, and Teresa were each one-third equal residual beneficiaries; Earle and Geri were not beneficiaries of the trust. In 1995, Jack also revoked his prior wills and executed a pour over will leaving any residual estate assets to his trust.

On January 9, 1996, Jack recorded deeds with Kern County conveying his 50 percent interest in the Rosedale property and his interest in the Gibson property to his 1995 trust. (Jack had signed, on December 13, 1995, the deeds transferring to the trust his interest in the Rosedale property and the Gibson property.) Since the transfer, Jack, and/or Jack's trust, maintained possession of the properties and paid all the property taxes thereon.

On April 27, 2010, Jack died. On April 26, 2011, the Pearce Parties filed their original petition to determine title to the Gibson and Rosedale properties and compel their return to Ruth's estate. The Pearce parties filed an amended petition (the instant Pearce Petition) on August 26, 2014. In the Pearce Petition, the Pearce Parties admitted they were aware of Jack's 1988 will, his failure to establish the "A" trust and the "B" trust under Ruth's 1983 will, and his failure to probate Ruth's will, but claimed they had no knowledge of Jack's 1995 trust or 1995 will that eliminated them as beneficiaries of Jack's estate. Stipulated facts admitted in this matter also established that Ruth Briggs or the Pearce Parties were never in possession of the Gibson or Rosedale properties and further that they never paid the taxes on the Gibson or Rosedale properties.

Based on its findings of fact, the trial court ruled that the Pearce Parties failed to establish that Ruth's estate held a property interest in either the Gibson property or the Rosedale property and that the claims set forth in the Pearce Petition were time barred. The trial court also found that the Briggs Parties established legal title to both the Gibson and Rosedale properties and that the Pearce Parties failed to rebut the legal presumptions flowing from legal title.

DISCUSSION

The trial court denied the Pearce Petition on multiple grounds, including:

1. Ruth's will did not sever the joint tenancy held by Ruth and Jack in the Gibson property;

2. Ruth's estate did not have an interest in the Rosedale property;

3. The claims relating to Ruth's interest in...