Estate of Hatten v. Mercantile Bank of Springfield

884 S.W.2d 326, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1333
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 16, 1994
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 884 S.W.2d 326 (Estate of Hatten v. Mercantile Bank of Springfield) 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
Estate of Hatten v. Mercantile Bank of Springfield, 884 S.W.2d 326, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1333 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Petitioners Janis Van Drie and Lorin Van Drie filed this discovery of assets proceeding, [327]*327§ 473.340,1 in the probate division of the Circuit Court of Christian County, in the Estate of Rosamond D. Hatten, Deceased. The petition alleged that certain items of personal property, which had been inventoried as an asset of the estate, had been transferred, prior to decedent’s death, to a trust created by decedent during her lifetime and formed no part of the probate estate. After a lengthy nonjury trial, at which petitioners appeared and participated pro se, the court entered judgment denying relief on the petition. Petitioners appeal.

The petition named, as parties to the proceeding, Mercantile Bank of Springfield (“the bank”), “as successor trustee of the living trust agreement of Rosamond D. Hatten,” Mercantile Bank of Springfield “as personal representative of the Estate of Rosamond D. Hatten, deceased,” and others.

The trial court’s judgment included the following:

“[T]he court finds petitioners fail on burden of proof that [the bank] accepted the estate inventoried assets into the ‘Hatten Trust’ in its capacity as Trustee, and that therefore the [inventorying of the assets] in the ‘Hatten Estate’ is proper and correct and that no additional assets exist either in the Trust or the Estate.”

Petitioners appeal.

In this court petitioners appear pro se. The sole point in their brief is that the judgment, including the quoted finding, is erroneous “in that (1) said finding is against the weight of the evidence, (2) it erroneously declares and applies the law, (3) it permits the personal representative to create a residuary estate by destroying the trust, and (4) it fails to give due consideration to the prior inconsistent statements of respondent’s counsel.”

“Parties representing themselves are bound by the same rules as parties represented by lawyers. Snelling v. Jackson, 787 S.W.2d 906, 907 (Mo.App.1990); Snelling v. Stephenson, 747 S.W.2d 689, 690 (Mo.App. 1988).” Williams v. Shelter Ins. Co., 819 S.W.2d 781, 782[2] (Mo.App.1991). Parties who represent themselves “are entitled to no indulgence they would not have received if represented by counsel.” Wheadon v. Froelich, 811 S.W.2d 817, 818 (Mo.App.1991).

Petitioners’ brief in this court fails to comply with Rule 84.04 which deals with the contents of the brief for appellant. Rule 84.04(c) requires the statement of facts portion of an appellant’s brief to be “a fair and concise statement of the facts relevant to the questions to be presented for determination without argument.”

The statement of facts in petitioners’ brief is 17 pages long. The first 3⅜ pages of that statement , set forth certain matters, accompanied by specific page references to the legal file or the transcript. The remaining 13⅜ pages contain no page references. Those pages contain the following: a description of the condition of Janis Van Drie, who authored the brief, and the manner in which she has been “tormented by her oppressors over the past four years”; disparaging remarks concerning the trial judge; reference to a “blood-sucking lawyer” and “a filthy lawyer”; quotations from cited cases; references to “obvious fraud”; mention of Justice Harry Blackmun, Andrew Jackson, and Jesus.

Rule 84.04 requires that the brief for appellant contain an argument which shall substantially follow the order of “points relied on.” Petitioners’ brief contains no argument at all. It consists only of a jurisdictional statement, the defective statement of facts, and the point previously mentioned. The point itself is defective in falling to meet the ■requirements of Rule 84.04(d) as construed in Thummel v. King, 570 S.W.2d 679, 684-690 (Mo.banc 1978). See Estate of Goslee, 807 S.W.2d 552, 556 (Mo.App.1991).

With exceptions not applicable here, Rule 84.13(a) provides that allegations of error not briefed or not properly briefed shall not be considered in any civil appeal. Respondents have filed a motion to dismiss this appeal on the ground that petitioners’ brief is deficient [328]*328in the particulars just discussed. The motion is meritorious, but this court in its discretion has concluded to examine the record on appeal, in light of the challenge attempted to be raised in petitioner’s point, for possible plain error as that term is used in Rule 84.13(c). Plain errors, under that rule, are those “affecting substantial rights” and require a finding by this court “that manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice has resulted therefrom.” No such error is here.

The following is a chronology of the significant events:

March 8, 1984

Rosamond Hatten executed a “Revocable Living Trust Agreement.” Also on this date Rosamond Hatten executed her “Last Will and Testament.”

In the trust agreement, Rosamond Hatten was named Grantor and also Trustee. The bank was named “Successor Trustee.” The document recited: Grantor has delivered and conveyed to the trustee “certain securities and other property ... described in Exhibit A”;2 the trust estate shall consist of the property described in Exhibit A, “together with any other securities or other property which may be transferred or conveyed to or deposited with said trustee by grantor or any other person”; during the life of grantor the trust shall be administered for the sole benefit of grantor; on the death of grantor the trustee was directed to distribute two described rings to named beneficiaries, cash gifts totaling $9,000 to four named beneficiaries, and the “remaining balance in trust” to “Christian County Humane Society, Inc.”

The will of Rosamond Hatten appointed the bank as her personal representative. The will disposed of personal property not involved here. The residuary estate, real and personal, was given to the “then acting trustee” under the trust ... “to be added to the trust property and held, administered and distributed in accordance with the terms of that agreement and any amendments made pursuant to its terms before my death.”

September 6, 1989

Rosamond Hatten executed a “First Amendment” to the trust. Under the amendment, the trustee was given authority to “pay and discharge all of grantor’s legal debts” and certain changes were made with respect to the disposition of the two rings and cash gifts. The amendment further provided: “Upon the death of Rosamond D. Hatten the trustee is directed ..., and the balance in trust as then constituted shall be subject to the following:

“6. Grantor gives and devises her residential real property,3 together with household contents such as furniture, furnishings, items of utility and decoration, bric-a-brac, china, and table utensils not otherwise disposed of [by the will] to Lorin and Jams Van Drie, husband and wife, ... but if both are then deceased, then said gift and devise shall lapse and shall then revert to the residuary estate.

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Bluebook (online)
884 S.W.2d 326, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-hatten-v-mercantile-bank-of-springfield-moctapp-1994.