Alewel v. Vollmer

485 S.W.2d 682
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 11, 1972
DocketNo. 34207
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 485 S.W.2d 682 (Alewel v. Vollmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alewel v. Vollmer, 485 S.W.2d 682 (Mo. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

SIMEONE, Judge.

This case involves an heretofore unresolved interpretation of § 473.5901 of the 1955 Probate Code. While the issues are narrow, the solutions are complex. The principal issue is whether, after the filing of final settlement of a decedent’s estate, written objections may be made later than ten days after the filing of the final settlement. We hold that, under the facts which will be developed, the probate court had power to consider such objections.

The appeal arises from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis entered January 19, 1971, ordering Bernard F., Joseph F. and Theodore Vollmer, the executors of the Estate of Elizabeth J. Schnur, (hereinafter Elizabeth), to pay the claim of her brother, Frank Vollmer, for rent due in the amount of $350 per month from February 15, 1968, to June 9, 1969, for a total of $5,600. The circuit court affirmed an earlier identical order of the probate court entered June 2, 1970. After post-trial motions were filed, the executors perfected their appeal to this court.

The cause arose in this manner. On June 11, 1966, Elizabeth J. Schnur, a successful business woman, died in her seventy-eighth year. She was the sister of Bernard, Joseph and Frank Vollmer. Her nephews were Bernard F., Joseph F. and Theodore Vollmer. She left a will which [685]*685was duly probated on June 13, 1966. In her will she devised an undivided one-third life interest of the real estate located at 3125 Lafayette Avenue, on which she had been operating a mortuary business, to her brothers with remainder to her nephews.

The executors were authorized and empowered by Item Seven of her will “ . . . to carry on and operate the business of the E. J. Schnur Funeral Home, now carried on by me at 3125 Lafayette Avenue in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, during the administration of my estate without any authority or order from the Probate Court having jurisdiction thereof, ...”

Item Five, paragraph five, of the will provided: “The bequest and devise of the above real estate in this Item Five to my said brothers for life, is upon condition that they each charge or receive no more than $350.00 per month, net, after all taxes, expenses and upkeep of the premises as rental for said premises from the owners of the E. J. Schnur Funeral Home and upon further condition that my said brothers rent or lease to no other person or persons than the owners of the E. J. Schnur Funeral Home. Should either of my said brothers violate or attempt to violate the terms herein provided, his life tenancy will then terminate and his interest in said property pass as herein provided.”

There is no question that the executors did undertake to operate the mortuary business and did pay Frank, Bernard and Joseph the sum of $350 per month until January, 1968.

In the course of the administration of Elizabeth’s estate, final settlement was filed on October 15, 1968. Thereafter, on November 19, 1968, some 35 days later, on application of Frank Vollmer, the time to file objections to the final settlement was extended to December 2, 1968, and again on December 2, 1968, on application the time to file objections was further extended to December 17, 1968. On December 5, a “Petition for Order Directing Executors to Pay Creditor” was filed by Frank seeking the rental amounts subsequent to January, 1968. This petition was therefore filed fifty days after the date of filing the final settlement. After subsequent motions were heard and overruled, Walter L. Alewel filed a Petition for Substitution in the probate court alleging that Frank Voll-mer had died on June 16, 1969. The Objections to Substitution were overruled in May, 1970.

Eventually after answers to the Petition for Order Directing Executors to Pay Creditors were filed, the probate court entered its order against the executors to pay $5,600 for rent due. The probate court treated the Petition for Order Directing Executors to Pay Creditor as objections to the “co-executors final settlement.”

The appellants-executors raise four points: (1) the Petition for an Order Directing Executors to Pay Creditors (objection to final settlement) was filed more than ten days after the date of filing the final settlement and hence in violation of § 473.590; (2) the trial court erred because of the non-joinder of all necessary parties in the claimant’s claim for rent; (3) the probate court did not have jurisdiction to hear a landlord-tenant action; and (4) the probate court had no jurisdiction over the real estate.

We hold that the probate court under the circumstances did not err, and affirm.

Section 473.590, insofar as pertinent, states: “Within ten days after the filing of the final settlement and petition for distribution, or such longer time as may be ordered by the court, any interested person may file written objections thereto . . . .” This section first became a part of our law in the Probate Code of 1955.2 Prior to that time there was no express statute prescribing the time within which objections should be filed but it was the [686]*686practice for interested persons to file written exceptions if filed within the same term at which the final settlement was approved. In re Alexander’s Estate, Mo.Sup., 360 S.W.2d 92, 98; see discussion in 4 Mo.Practice, Probate Law and Practice, § 1385. In Alexander's Estate, objections were filed more than ten days after filing the final settlement, but the proceeding was commenced before the enactment of the Probate Code and pending on the effective date. The Supreme Court held that § 473.590 was not to be applied because the application of the second would work an injustice in the case. Section A.l, Enactment Clause, Laws 1955, p. 385; 25 V.A. M.S. 149-150.

As stated, § 473.590 provides that “Within ten days after the filing of the final settlement and petition for distribution, or such longer time as may be ordered by the court, any interested person may file written objections thereto . . . The objections must be in writing and clearly state the specific grounds of objection and the modification desired , . .” (Emphasis ours.) See Maus, 4 Mo.Prac. § 1468.

In order to carry out the policy of the statute to expedite the distribution of the estate, we construe it to mean that in order for a person who files an objection to be entitled to have his objection considered and heard he must request, within ten days after filing the settlement, an extension of time to file any objections thereto. If such request for extension of time to file objections is made within that period the probate court may extend the time to file objections and the person filing them would then have the right to have the objections considered, heard and ruled upon.

However, in the event it should come to the attention of the probate judge, either sua sponte or through information set forth in an objection of an interested person after the ten day statutory period that the final settlement is inaccurate, incomplete or in any way improper, the probate judge may, before approving the final settlement, hold a hearing and rule upon the matter. The probate court has the power to consider any information or objection that comes within its purview, and hear and rule, even though the information or objection is filed after the ten day period, to assure itself that the settlement should be approved.

This is, in effect, what was done here.

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Bluebook (online)
485 S.W.2d 682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alewel-v-vollmer-moctapp-1972.