Spear v. Nicholson, 93-179
| Decision Date | 12 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-179,93-179 |
| Citation | 882 P.2d 1237 |
| Parties | Nancy SPEAR; Elisabeth N. Holmes; and G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, III, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. Klara W. NICHOLSON, individually and as co-trustee of the G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, Jr. Trust; David L. Koerwitz, as co-trustee of the G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, Jr. Trust; Little Four Bear Ranch, a Wyoming partnership; Adrian Baumgartner; Josefine K. Wong; Terry Freeman; Herb Brentlinger; Tracey Market; Charmain Goodman; Norma Asay; Colleen Morris; Hot Springs County Senior Citizens Center, Inc.; American Power Dispatchers, a Washington corporation; St. Mary's Church, a Rhode Island corporation; Shriners Hospitals For Crippled Children, a Colorado corporation; Franciscan Sisters of Atonement, a New York corporation; Troy Schneider; Mary Schneider; William West; Bob Keough; David Kovash; Bonnie Kovash; Don Bonnette; Don Hawkins; Ken Lee; June Lee; Frank Taylor; Rose Taylor; Joseph C. Milner; F. Neil Conner; Sharyl D. Conner; Ted Pierce; Town of Thermopolis, a Wyoming incorporated town; and Eduardo Troya, M.D., Appellees (Defendants). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Thomas N. Long and H. Frank Gibbard of Thomas N. Long, P.C., and Richard P. Boley of Boley & McKellar, P.C., Cheyenne, for appellants.
Ronald P. Jurovich and Thomas W. Harrington of Messenger & Jurovich, Thermopolis, for appellees, Klara W. Nicholson, David L. Koerwitz, Little Four Bear Ranch, Tracey Market, Charmain Goodman; Norma Asay, American Power Dispatchers, St. Mary's Church, Troy and Mary Schneider, William West, Don Bonnette, Don Hawkins, Ken and June Lee, Frank and Rose Taylor, Joseph C. Milner, Town of Thermopolis, Colleen Morris, Hot Springs County Senior Citizens, Inc., Franciscan Sisters of Atonement, Bob Keough, and David and Bonnie Kovash.
Becky N. Klemt of Pence & MacMillan, Laramie, and Harry E. Coff of Reams, Reams & Coff, Grand Junction, CO, for appellee, Adrian Baumgartner.
Thomas A. Fasse of Miller & Fasse, P.C., Riverton, for appellees, F. Neil Conner and Sharyl Conner.
William R. Jones and Bruce A. Hellbaum of Jones, Jones, Vines & Hunkins, Wheatland, for appellee, Eduardo Troya, M.D.
Before GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, * MACY and TAYLOR, JJ.
The issue in this case tests whether a 1985 amendment to the probate code vested exclusive jurisdiction in the district court sitting in probate over all claims relating to the property and affairs of the decedent. After the commencement of probate proceedings in Hot Springs County, a declaratory judgment action was filed in Natrona County attacking, on the ground of undue influence, inter vivos transfers by the decedent. A variety of ancillary equitable remedies were also claimed and, in addition, there were claims sounding in tort. The district court in Natrona County dismissed the action, ruling it had no jurisdiction because jurisdiction was vested in the probate court in Hot Springs County. In its Order of Dismissal, the ruling was broadened to encompass lack of venue as well as lack of jurisdiction. We hold the amendment to the probate code did not result in exclusive jurisdiction in the probate court. We reverse the Order of Dismissal and remand the case for further proceedings.
The appellants in this case, Nancy Spear, Elisabeth N. Holmes, and G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, III (children) set forth the issues in their Brief of Appellants in this way:
I. Whether the Natrona County District Court, a court of general jurisdiction, has subject matter jurisdiction over appellants' claims.
A. Whether a district court in Wyoming has jurisdiction over claims relating to the validity of inter vivos trust amendments and inter vivos conveyances, and tort claims.
B. Whether appellants' claims concern "probate matters" within the exclusive jurisdiction of the district court sitting in probate.
C. Whether, even if appellants' claims could have been brought in probate court, the district court has concurrent jurisdiction over them.
II. Whether venue for appellants' complaint is proper in the Natrona County District Court.
Separate briefs were filed by several of the appellees. A number of them joined in a Brief of Appellees presented principally by Klara W. Nicholson (widow), individually and as Co-Trustee of the G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, Jr. Trust, in which the issues are stated in this way:
I. Did the Seventh Judicial District Court, Natrona County, Wyoming, properly dismiss appellants' complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction?
II. Did the Seventh Judicial District Court, Natrona County, Wyoming, properly dismiss the suit for improper venue?
III. Was the order appealed from a final order?
In a separate Brief of Appellee, Adrian Baumgartner (widow's son), the issues are stated as follows:
1. Whether this appeal should be dismissed as an untimely appeal of an interlocutory ruling because appellants can proceed in the Hot Springs County District Court on all counts in their complaint.
2. Whether the lower court's ruling on venue should be sustained.
3. Whether trial of all claims in the Hot Springs County District Court is proper where the court has both general and exclusive jurisdiction.
4. Whether the term "co-extensive" in W.S. § 2-2-101 should be construed to mean "concurrent."
5. Whether appellants' objections to venue in Hot Springs County have been waived.
6. Whether the Hot Springs County District Court has jurisdiction to determine the validity of documents involving property that will revert to the probate estate if the documents are invalidated.
7. Whether the challenged trust amendments and wills must be construed together to give effect to the decedent's testamentary intentions and avoid a collateral attack on the probate.
8. Whether this Court should render an advisory opinion on the torts of intentional interference with expectancy and civil conspiracy.
In the Brief of Appellees F. Neil Conner and Sharyl Conner, there is no statement of the issues, and in the separate Brief of Appellee Eduardo Troya, M.D., the issues are stated identically to those set forth in the appellants' brief.
The factual focus in this case is upon the execution by G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, Jr. (Nicholson) of certain documents subsequent to 1985 and prior to his death on April 2, 1991. The children contend Nicholson was the subject of undue influence by the widow and her son when he signed trust amendments, deeds, checks, and other documents transferring property (the challenged documents). The children contend the challenged documents effectively disinherited them by vitiating the terms of the G.J. Guthrie Nicholson, Jr. Revocable Trust and its First Amendment, which was executed in 1985. The children's position is that, at that time, Nicholson was free from any influence by the widow and her son, and the property conveyed by the challenged documents should be returned to ownership of the trust and distributed according to its terms.
After Nicholson died, the children first brought this action in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming. We understand they sought essentially the same relief they seek in this case. After that action had been filed, the widow commenced probate proceedings for Nicholson's estate in the probate court in Hot Springs County. Then the United States District Court, acting on its own motion, reversed a prior ruling and dismissed the complaint, pointing to a lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the probate exception to diversity jurisdiction. One of the children has filed a will contest in the probate matter, seeking to inhibit the probate court from ratifying the widow's designation as trustee of Nicholson's pour-over testamentary trust. The probate action is stayed at this time.
Following dismissal of the federal court action, the children filed this case in Natrona County. The relief the children sought was a declaratory judgment establishing the challenged documents were the result of undue influence; the imposition of a constructive trust on Nicholson's property that had been wrongfully alienated; rescission or reformation of the challenged documents; and an accounting. In addition, tort theories for intentional interference with the children's expectancy and a civil conspiracy were alleged against some of the defendants. All of the appellees filed motions to dismiss in which they asserted the district court of Natrona County lacked subject matter jurisdiction with respect to the claims of the children and also that venue was not proper. The district court of Natrona County, following a hearing, entered an Order of Dismissal. It based its order upon the view that subject matter jurisdiction was vested in the probate court in Hot Springs County and, in addition, venue in Natrona County was improper. This appeal presents that order for review.
In 1985, WYO.STAT. § 2-2-101 (1980) was amended to enhance the jurisdiction of the district court sitting in probate. 1 We understand this amendment was adopted to address the limiting effect of prior cases decided by this court relating to the jurisdiction of the district court sitting in probate. In Matter of Estate of Fulmer, 761 P.2d 658 (Wyo.1988), we acknowledged, in dictum, that the 1985 amendments to the statute did extend the jurisdiction of the probate court to those cases involving the property of the estate. We do not read the statute or Fulmer however, as establishing exclusive jurisdiction in the probate court to address those actions. Amending the definition of the jurisdiction of the district court sitting in probate so that it is "coextensive" with the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court in any civil action is not sufficient to vest exclusive jurisdiction in the probate court. The debate in this case is precisely whether the claims of the children can be tried only in the probate proceeding, or whether they can be tried by the district court in Natrona County.
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