Woodard v. Hendrix

• Decision Date: 24 June 2022
• Docket Number: 123,900
• Parties: Robert W. Woodard, Claude L. Woodard Jr., and Gloria Ann Boyett, Plaintiffs, v. Rodger E. Hendrix, Appellee, and Barbara Bartell and John Bartell, Appellants.
• Court: Kansas Court of Appeals

Robert W. Woodard, Claude L. Woodard Jr., and Gloria Ann Boyett, Plaintiffs,
v.
Rodger E. Hendrix, Appellee,

and Barbara Bartell and John Bartell, Appellants.

No. 123,900

Court of Appeals of Kansas

June 24, 2022

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

Appeal from Osborne District Court; PRESTON PRATT, judge. Opinion filed June 24, 2022.

Richard E. Dietz, of Dietz &Hardman Law Office, of Osborne, for appellants.

Chasen R. Katz, of Thompson, Arthur, Davidson &Katz, of Russell, for appellee.

Before GREEN, P.J., ATCHESON and HURST, JJ.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HURST, J.

This case stems from an unfortunate family dispute over a one-fourth interest in a large piece of land in Osborne County owned by Wendell E. Woodard at the time of his death. The disputing family members are cousins, and the nephew, niece, and nephew-in-law of Wendell E. Woodard. Woodard's nephew, Rodger Hendrix, claims that

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Woodard left an undivided one-fourth interest in the land to him and his cousin, Barbara Bartell. However, Barbara claims Woodard left that same piece of land to herself and her spouse. After a trial, the district court ruled in favor of Rodger. Finding no error in the district court's actions, this court affirms.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Wendell E. Woodard died on October 7, 2018, at the enviable age of 102, after working as a farmer his entire life. Wendell never had children of his own and lived the vast majority of his life on his own. Although Wendell had no children, his two brothers and four sisters had several children between them, Wendell's nieces and nephews, who were the natural objects of the bounty of Wendell's estate. One nephew, Rodger Hendrix, was particularly close with Wendell, visiting him often, helping with his farm when he could, and eventually taking care of his house while he was in the nursing home. Rodger and his mother, Phyllis, were listed as Wendell's attorneys-in-fact under a durable power of attorney drafted in 2004.

Many years before his death, Wendell and some of his siblings purchased the land at issue in this lawsuit, which the family calls the North Place. Over the years, interest in the North Place transferred among family members. At the time of Wendell's death, Wendell owned a one-half interest in the North Place and several of his nieces and nephews owned the other half, with each owning an undivided one-sixth interest. This dispute all centers around how Wendell intended to dispose of his one-half interest in the North Place upon his death. Rodger asserts that Wendell wanted his interest to be shared between Rodger and his cousin Barbara Bartell, as evidenced by a transfer-on-death deed executed shortly before Wendell's death. Contrarily, Barbara contends that Wendell wanted his interest in the North Place to transfer to Barbara and her spouse-with no portion passing to Rodger-as evidenced by an earlier executed transfer-on-death deed.

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The parties rely on dueling documents, so the facts surrounding the execution of these documents is important. Barbara and her spouse rely on an October 2013 transfer-on-death deed transferring the entirety of Wendell's interest in the North Place to Barbara and her spouse. Rodger relies on a transfer-on-death deed executed by Wendell in September 2018, a few weeks before his death, transferring his interest in the North Place to Rodger and Barbara. After Wendell's death, the cousins who owned the other half of the North Place-Robert Woodard, Claude Woodard Jr., and Gloria Ann Boyett-filed a partition action against Rodger and Barbara, alleging they each owned an undivided onefourth interest in the North Place. In her answer to the partition action, Barbara admitted to all the allegations except that Rodger owned any interest in the North Place. Thereafter, Barbara and her husband, John Bartell, filed a separate action alleging that Rodger owned no interest in the North Place-specifically, the Bartells argued that the 2018 transfer-on-death deed was invalid, and that they should receive Wendell's one-half interest in the property under the 2013 deed. The district court consolidated the cases and, after an unsuccessful mediation, proceeded to trial.

Before trial, Rodger and the Bartells agreed that Robert Woodard, Claude Woodard Jr., and Gloria Boyett each owned an undivided one-sixth interest-that is, they equally shared the half interest in the North Place that Wendell did not own. The parties further agreed that Barbara Bartell owned an undivided one-fourth interest, either from the 2018 deed, if valid, or from the October 2013 deed. Rodger and Barbara's sole disagreement was whether Rodger or Barbara's husband, John Bartell, owned the other one-fourth interest in the North Place. That is, whether the 2018 transfer-on-death deed was valid.

Barbara challenged the validity of the 2018 transfer-on-death deed alleging Wendell lacked capacity to execute the document or that Rodger unduly influenced Wendell to achieve its execution. The district court, at a bench trial, heard testimony and evidence regarding the validity of the 2018 transfer-on-death deed, including testimony

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from Rodger and his spouse; Barbara and her spouse; several family members; Wendell's former attorney; Wendell's physician; and the director of nursing at the long-term care facility where Wendell lived.

After suffering a fall in August 2018, Wendell moved to a long-term care nursing home until his death two months later. Wendell had a short stay in the same nursing facility earlier that year for a separate incident. Even at his advanced age, other than these two stays, Wendell primarily lived at home and took care of his own affairs. According to Rodger, shortly after entering the nursing facility for the second time, Wendell missed a payment on a utility bill and subsequently asked Rodger to help him "take care of his business." Along with being the primary contact person for the nursing home, Rodger also began paying Wendell's bills. Rodger testified that Wendell had "been telling me for years . . . he did not want his estate to go through probate," so while visiting Wendell on September 12 or 13, 2018, Rodger offered to check Wendell's documents to ensure all was in order and Wendell agreed. Rodger proceeded to examine Wendell's deeds and other holdings to make sure Wendell's assets each had a designated beneficiary and that any transferring deeds had the correct beneficiaries.

Upon checking the deeds, Rodger noticed that the October 2013 North Place transfer deed identified only Barbara and her spouse as the transferees upon Wendell's death. Rodger testified that he understood for years that he would inherit one-half of Wendell's interest in the property, and that his cousin, Barbara Bartell, would inherit the other half. Wendell's interest in the North Place was the subject to several deeds executed by Wendell over the years:

• On January 17, 2002, Wendell executed a transfer-on-death deed, drafted by attorney Paul Gregory leaving his interest in the North Place to Rodger and his mother.

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• On March 15, 2013, Wendell executed a transfer-on-death deed, drafted by Paul Gregory, leaving his interest in the North Place to Rodger and his wife.

• On October 29, 2013, Wendell executed another transfer-on-death deed, drafted by Paul Gregory, leaving his interest in the North Place to Barbara Bartell and her husband.

• Finally, on September 17, 2018, Wendell executed the final transfer-on-death deed, leaving his interest in the North Place to both Rodger and Barbara Bartell. As noted above, Rodger and his wife drafted this deed.

According to Rodger, several months after the execution of the March 2013 deed-which left the North Place to Rodger and his wife-Wendell told Rodger that he had changed his mind and drafted another deed leaving his interest in North Place to Rodger and his cousin Barbara Bartell. Rodger testified that Wendell said that although Barbara would share in the land, Rodger would have to bear the brunt of managing the property.

Wendell executed the second 2013 deed leaving his North Place interest to Barbara and her spouse just six months after the prior deed. And contrary to Rodger's belief that new deed did not split the North Place interest between Rodger and Barbara, the new deed left the entirety to Barbara and her spouse.

Upon discovering the October 2013 North Place transfer-on-death deed, Rodger returned to the nursing home a day or two later and asked Wendell who he intended the property to pass to, and Wendell responded, "You and Barb[ara]." Rodger recalled that after explaining the effect of the October 2013 deed, Wendell was "not happy" with the situation and called it a "mistake." According to Rodger, Wendell wanted to correct the matter so that he and Barbara would share his interest in North Place equally. Rodger testified that "[t]here was no doubt in my mind that that's what he wanted to have done." Rodger said he called the attorney, Paul Gregory, who had drafted Wendell's prior deeds, but Gregory did not respond. Rather than wait to speak to Gregory, Rodger asked his

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wife, who works as a legal secretary, to type up a new transfer-on-death deed for the North Place that would split Wendell's interest between Rodger and Barbara. Rodger also testified that Wendell agreed that Rodger could "fix this problem" and "[h]e 100 percent understood."

On September 17, 2018, Rodger returned to the nursing home with the transfer-on-death deed prepared by his wife. Rodger asked the director of nursing at the long-term care home, Rita McKeon, to serve as a notary. Because of Wendell's failing eyesight, Rodger read the deed aloud; Rodger recalled that Wendell seemed normal that afternoon and McKeon noted there was no documented mental issues that day in Wendell's chart. McKeon asked Wendell if he knew what he was signing, and Wendell responded that he did...