Raimi v. Furlong
| Decision Date | 08 July 1994 |
| Citation | 702 So.2d 1273 |
| Parties | 22 Fla. L. Weekly D2184 Manuel RAIMI, Individually and as Co-Personal Representative and Trustee of the Evelyn S. Gruber Last Will and Testament and Evelyn S. Gruber Revocable Trust Both Dated |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bunnell, Woulfe, Kirschbaum, Keller & McIntyre, P.A. and Nancy W. Gregoire, Ft.Lauderdale, for appellants Manuel Raimi, Renee Raimi and Frieda Pantzer.
Greenberg, Traurig, Hoffman, Lipoff, Rosen & Quentel, P.A., and Arthur J. England, Jr., and Charles M. Auslander, and John G. Crabtree, Miami; Bergman and Jacobs, P.A. and Richard H. Bergman, Miami; Muskat, Odessky and Miller, P.A. and Robert B. Miller, North Miami Beach, for appellants SunBank/Miami, N.A., Theresa Heidel and Lucille Clum.
Deutsch & Blumberg, P.A. and James C. Blecke, Miami, for appellant Ida Raimi.
Holland & Knight, and Daniel S. Pearson, and Lenore C. Smith, Miami, for appellant Edward L. Schultz.
Heller and Kaplan, and Daniel Neal Heller, and Dwight Sullivan, and Joseph Currier Brock, Miami, for appellee.
Before LEVY, GERSTEN and GREEN, JJ.
This is a consolidated appeal of five appeals from an adverse final judgment entered after a non-jury equitable action and a will contest action. In its final judgment of the equitable action, the lower court, in essence, found that all of the appellants had conspired using undue influence to deprive the decedent (Evelyn S. Gruber) of her money and assets prior to her death in March 1995 and had caused her to execute her final will in their favor which they sought to admit to probate. As a result, the lower court awarded both compensatory and punitive damages against each of the appellants in the equitable action. Further, the court refused to admit the decedent's last will to probate in favor of an earlier executed will. The appellants argue, on this appeal, that the lower court's findings and conclusions are unsupported by competent substantial evidence in the record and/or the court misapprehended the effects of the evidence. We agree for the reasons which follow and reverse.
The undisputed evidence adduced at trial, taken in the light most favorable to appellee, reflects that prior to her death, the decedent, Evelyn Gruber, was the widow of Jacob Gruber. Evelyn and Jacob had been married for approximately 18 years when he died in March 1993. It had been a second marriage for both and had produced no children. Appellee, Estelle Furlong was Jacob's only child from his prior marriage and the decedent's stepdaughter. The decedent had no children of her own. Jacob and Evelyn had each amassed considerable wealth prior to their marriage to each other, Jacob as a successful New York attorney and investor and Evelyn as a buyer for a women's clothier. Evelyn's net worth, however, was considerably more than Jacob's.
Jacob's daughter, Estelle, a practicing probate attorney in Miami, rendered legal services to her father and stepmother, which included the drafting of their respective wills. Estelle's husband, Dr. James Furlong, was the personal physician to both Evelyn and Jacob. During their lifetime, Jacob and Evelyn interacted and socialized frequently with the Furlongs and bestowed generous gifts upon the Furlongs. Evelyn rarely saw or visited her blood family members which consisted of her sister, appellant, Ida Raimi and brother, appellant, Edward L. Schultz, both of whom resided in Michigan, or her nephew (i.e., Ida's son) and his wife, appellants, Manuel ("Manny") and Renee Raimi, who resided in St. Petersburg, Florida. Despite their lack of frequent interaction, however, Evelyn did generously bestow both monetary and non-monetary gifts upon her sister Ida due to her limited financial resources. 1
On January 23, 1992, Jacob and Evelyn executed identical wills which were prepared by Estelle Furlong. As for Jacob's will, the bulk of his estate, estimated as being between $1.5 and $1.8 million, was left to Evelyn. Estelle and Evelyn were named co-personal representatives of Jacob's estate. Evelyn's will similarly left the bulk of her estate, estimated at approximately $3.3 million to Jacob. Jacob and Estelle were named co-personal representatives of Evelyn's estate. In the event that Evelyn predeceased Jacob, it was provided that 75% of the residue of Evelyn's estate (as well as 100% of her jewelry, tangible property and $200,000) would go to Estelle Furlong and 25% of the residue would go to Evelyn's sister, Ida. 2 In the event that Ida predeceased Evelyn, a third of her $1 million share would go to appellant, Manny Raimi.
Shortly before Jacob's death in March of 1993, Evelyn asked Estelle for the original of her January 23, 1992 will. Estelle returned the original of Evelyn's will to her as requested and it was never seen again. This will, dubbed "The Lost Will" in the proceedings below, was the will ultimately admitted to probate by the lower court in the will contest action.
Approximately one week after the death of her husband Jacob, Evelyn had a friend, Rose Alpert, drive her to see Donna Blaustein, Esq., a probate attorney with the law firm of Broad and Cassel in Miami, for the purpose of procuring a new will. According to Ms. Blaustein's unrefuted testimony, Evelyn was anxious to have a new will drawn which would divide her estate equally between her sister, Ida and brother, Edward Schultz, and their heirs, and completely disinherit Estelle and Dr. Furlong. Although Ms. Blaustein had some initial concerns that Evelyn did not have a complete understanding of the size of Jacob's or her estate, 3 she Ms. Blaustein then proceeded to draft a new will in accordance with Evelyn's instructions. In this new will, ("The Blaustein Will"), Evelyn divided her estate evenly between her brother Edward and sister Ida 4 and made no provisions whatsoever for the Furlongs. Alvin Cassel was named the personal representative in this will. Evelyn executed "The Blaustein Will" on April 8, 1993, and at the time, Ms. Blaustein was satisfied that Evelyn fully understood the size of her and Jacob's estate, its income, and disbursements. Ms. Blaustein thereafter retained the original of this will for six weeks. During this period, Ms. Blaustein wrote a letter to Evelyn memorializing Evelyn's instruction that she "did not wish to waive any of [her] inheritance from [her] husband, especially since [she was not] anxious to have those assets passed directly to Estelle and her family."
deemed Evelyn competent to execute a new will and dispose of her estate. Ms. Blaustein explained that in her experience as a probate lawyer, it was not uncommon for elderly widows such as Evelyn not to fully comprehend probate matters.
Approximately one and a half months after Evelyn's execution of "The Blaustein Will," Estelle learned of its existence. Dr. Furlong testified that Estelle was upset when she learned about "The Blaustein Will" and thought it "only fair" that the Furlongs be put back into Evelyn's will. Thereafter, Estelle telephoned Ms. Blaustein to terminate her services as Evelyn's lawyer. Estelle also prepared a letter signed by Evelyn which directed Ms. Blaustein to return to Evelyn "the original interim will which you prepared for me dated April 8, 1993, which I intend to destroy."
Estelle and Evelyn picked up "The Blaustein Will" on May 24, 1993 from Ms. Blaustein's office. At that time, Ms. Blaustein gave Evelyn a letter memorializing her concern of Estelle's inherent conflict of interest in representing Evelyn where Estelle had borrowed stock from her late father which was still owed and unpaid to the estate and hence, Evelyn. Estelle's loan was documented by five notes from Jacob which instructed Evelyn to recoup the stock or deduct its value (i.e., approximately $96,000) from Estelle's inheritance under Jacob's will. Within two days of their visit to Ms. Blaustein, Estelle drafted a disclaimer for Evelyn's signature wherein Evelyn disclaimed any interest in the stock. Evelyn executed the disclaimer and Estelle maintained in the proceedings below that Evelyn was completely lucid and competent during this time.
Later, Estelle, as co-personal representative of her late father's estate, wrote to appellant, SunTrust Bank, formerly known as SunBank Miami, N.A., to inquire about her father's assets at the bank. Appellant, Theresa Heidel, a private banker at SunTrust responded in a letter. Later, Estelle and Evelyn, acting as co-personal representatives of Jacob's estate, then personally met with Heidel. At that time, Estelle asked to be the sole signatory of Jacob's estate to facilitate the payment of expenses as needed and Heidel explained that that would require Evelyn's written authorization. Evelyn did provide such authorization in writing.
After Evelyn retrieved the original "Blaustein Will," Estelle drafted another will for Evelyn which she executed on June 1, 1993. In this will, Estelle was named as the personal representative and pursuant to its terms, the Furlongs were to receive 40% of Evelyn's estate and the remaining 60% of her estate was to be divided evenly between Evelyn's sister, Ida and brother, Edward.
At or about the time of Evelyn's execution of this will, Ida telephoned her son, Manny in St. Petersburg, Florida, to express her concern about Evelyn. According to Manny's unrefuted testimony, his mother told him...
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