Chandler v. Harris

2016 Ark. App. 155, 485 S.W.3d 716, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 165
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 9, 2016
DocketCV-15-547
StatusPublished

This text of 2016 Ark. App. 155 (Chandler v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chandler v. Harris, 2016 Ark. App. 155, 485 S.W.3d 716, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 165 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

BART F. VIRDEN, Judge

I,Cynthia Chandler, the administratrix of the estate of her father, James Harris, appeals the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court that found that all estate property should go to Harris’s surviving spouse, appellee Sharron Harris. Chandler argues that the circuit court erred in its application of Ark.Code Ann. § 28-39-101(b) (Repl. 2012) concerning spousal allowances and in its decision concerning ownership of certain corporate property. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

|2The decedent, James Harris, died intestate on June 24, 2012, survived by Chandler, his only child, and Harris. Harris and the decedent had been married since 1979.

On July 25, 2012, Chandler petitioned for appointment as administratrix of her father’s estate. She was appointed by an order entered on July 26, 2012. She accepted the appointment and letters of administration were issued that same day.

Chandler filed an inventory of the estate on February 17, 2014, with an approximate total value of $544,000. This included $514,774 of stock in Jim Harris Realty, Inc. (JHR, Inc.), and approximately $30,000 of other property, consisting mostly of guns, hunting and fishing equipment, and a boat and trailer. 1

Harris objected to the inventory, claiming that it included property she and the decedent had acquired during them marriage, such as the stock in JHR, Inc. She also asserted that all property listed in the inventory, including the JHR, Inc. stock, was her property. Chandler filed a response to Harris’s objection, arguing that the concept of marital property did not apply and that there was a difference between what was marital property in the context of divorce and what was property of the estate.

A hearing on the objection was held on June 23, 2014. On September 18, 2014, the circuit court issued its letter opinion. The court found that two First Security Bank accounts (approximately $183,256) were not corporate accounts because they were payable on the decedent’s death and passed to Harris outside of probate. A five-acre tract of real property in Dallas County was found to have been titled solely in the decedent’s name and, as such, |apassed to the estate subject to Harris’s dower interest. The, court found that the parties had agreed that the items .listed in Exhibit 10 went to Chandler. 2 The court further found that, unless Harris could, show that it was titled jointly with the decedent, all other property listed as corporate assets would go to JHR, Inc. Based on Subchapter S tax documents, the court found that 150 shares of JHR, Inc., belonged to Harris as her separate property and that the remaining 150 shares were to be equally divided between Harris and Chandler. The court found the estate was not entitled to reimbursement from funds in a Capitol Bank account allegedly used to pay Harris’s personal expenses because they were utilized for legitimate business purposes. All other property was to be equally divided between Chandler and Harris.

Prior to entry of the court’s order, Chandler filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that, pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 28-11-3Ó5 (Repl. 2012), the stock in JHR, Inc., should be divided 100 shares to Chandler and fifty shares to Harris. Harris responded and counter-petitioned that specific items of personal property titled in both the decedent’s and her name be found to be her individual property, which included, the boat and trailer, and that furnishings and appliances in the mar? ital home be considered her property.. She attached title documents and invoices showing that the boats, trailers, four-wheelers, and one vehicle were titled in the names of the decedent and Harris. One vehicle appeared to be jointly titled in the corporation, the decedent, and Harris.

' After a hearing on the motions for reconsideration, a final order of distribution was entered. The court found that the decedent and Harris had utilized JHR, Inc., for their Impersonal expenses. The court left unchanged the disposition of the bank accounts and the Dallas County real property; however, the court changed the distribution of some of the property from its original letter opinion. The court divided the shares in JHR, Inc., belonging to the decedent 100 shares to Chandler and fifty shares to Harris!’ The court found that, as the surviving spouse,'Harris was entitled to such furniture, furnishings, appliances, implements, and equipment as shall be reasonably necessary for her use and occupancy of the marital dwelling. The court specifically found that all of the personal property listed in the February 14, 2014 inventory, excluding the items in Exhibit 10, shall be vested in Harris as such items of personal property were reasonably necessary for her use. 3 The court specifically found, based on the testimony of CPA Tracy Fox and Harris, that the items contained on Exhibit A to the inventory were assets owned individually by the decedent and Harris and were in the nature of furniture, furnishings, appliances, implements, and equipment reasonably necessary for her ,use and were therefore assigned to and vested in Harris'. 4 The court also found that a boat, motor, and trailer; two four-wheelers; a cargo trailer; a 2008 Chevy Silverado; and a 2011 Chevy Tahoe were all titled in- Harris’s name and passed to her outside of probate. This appeal followed.

lfiWe review probate matters de novo but will not reverse the probate court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. In re Estate of Kemp, 2014 Ark. App. 160, 433 S.W.3d 911. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the. appellate court is left on the entire evidence with the firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Id. We must also defer to the superior position of .the lower court sitting in a probate matter to weigh the credibility of the witnesses. ' Id.

In her first point, Chandler argues that the probate court erred in its application of Ark.Code Ann. § 28-39-101 and the timeliness of Harris’s request for a spousal allowance. Section 28-39-101 is concerned with statutory allowances, which are simply other payments to a surviving spouse and minor children. 5 There are actually three allowances provided by the statute: (1) personal property or proceeds of the sale of personal property worth $4,000, but if creditors’ claims prohibit this, then $2,000 as against creditors (Ark. Code Ann. § 28—39—101(a)); (2) such furniture, furnishings, appliances, implements, and equipment necessary for occupancy of the home will be vested in the surviving spouse, provided that he or she was living with the decedent at the time of the decedent’s death (Ark.Code Ann. § 28-39-101(b)); and (3) an allowance during the two months-after the décedent’s death, of property for sustenance, “in accordance with the usual living standards of the family,” but not to exceed $1,000 (Ark.Code Ann. § 28-39-101(c)). These provisions are cumulative, and sections (b) and (c) apply as against both creditors and-distrib-utees. Ark.Code Ann. § 28-39-101(d). These allowances are also in addition to any rights of homestead or dower/curtesy. Spears v. Spears, 213 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
2016 Ark. App. 155, 485 S.W.3d 716, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chandler-v-harris-arkctapp-2016.