In Re Estate of Dillard

98 S.W.3d 386, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1656, 2003 WL 367860
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 20, 2003
Docket07-01-0457-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 98 S.W.3d 386 (In Re Estate of Dillard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Estate of Dillard, 98 S.W.3d 386, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1656, 2003 WL 367860 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion

BRIAN QUINN, Justice.

Ronald Glen Kirby (Kirby) and Glen David Dillard (Dillard) cross appeal from two orders involving the estate left and *389 trust created by Iris Kirby Dillard upon her death. Via three issues, Kirby contends that the trial court erred in 1) finding that certain accounts passed to Dillard and 2) approving Dillard’s accountings of the estate and trust assets. Also through three issues, Dillard challenges the trial court’s 1) jurisdiction, 2) determination that certain personal property needed to be placed in the trust and 3) determination that Dillard “did not have the absolute right to withdraw all corpus and income from the trust.” We affirm in part, reverse and render in part, and reverse and remand in part.

Background

The appeal involves the interpretation of a will left by Dillard’s wife, Iris. The latter was also the mother of Kirby. Her will, which was subsequently offered for probate in the Yoakum County Court at Law, named Dillard as her independent executor, and Kirby as the alternate. Furthermore, she specifically bequeathed to her husband, “in fee simple,” the following:

... all my personal property including jewelry, clothing, automobiles, furniture, silver, books, and pictures, but specifically excluding cash and certificates of deposit, or money in any financial institution, to my husband ... Dillard ... in fee simple absolute if he survive[d][her]....

The residue of her estate “whether community or separate, real or personal” was then “give[n]” to Dillard “as trustee, in trust for the benefit of ... Dillard.” And, with regard to the disposition of the property held in trust, Iris directed that the trustee “shall pay to or apply for the benefit of ... Dillard during his lifetime all of the net income of the Trust....” Yet, according to the will,

[i]f at any time in the discretion of the Trustee my husband should be in need of additional funds for maintenance and support, then the Trustee, in addition to the income payments provided, shall in his discretion pay to or apply for the benefit of ... Dillard such amounts from the principal of the Trust, up to the whole thereof, as Trustee deems necessary. In no event shall any trust income or principal be paid during the lifetime of ... Dillard to anyone other than my husband.

This provision was reiterated later in the will in virtually the same language. Regarding disposition of its assets upon termination of the trust, Iris directed that:

[ujnless the Trustee decides to use and does use all the principal of this trust, the trust shall continue in effect until the death of the beneficiary, at which time the trust shall be terminated and the principal and any accrued interest of the trust shall be distributed to the beneficiary in fee simple and in equal shares.

(Emphasis added). 1

Pursuant to the terms of the will, Dillard assumed the position of independent executor of his wife’s estate. Sometime thereafter, Dillard moved to close the estate and for discharge from the post of executor. In response, on December 15, 1995, the Yoakum County Court executed an order pursuant to the request. There *390 in, it discharged Dillard as independent executor and “approved” of “all matters and things by the said Independent Executor on behalf of the estate,” and “settled and extinguished” all liability of the executor. Furthermore, the following recitation was included in the order:

[i]t appeared to the Court that no citation required by § 152 of the Texas Probate Code was necessary because the Independent Executor was also the sole distributee of the Estate of Iris Kirby Dillard, deceased....

After the order closing the estate was entered, Kirby sued Dillard, in the 121st District Court, for a declaratory judgment construing not only the will and trust but also the validity of Dillard’s actions viz the trust. Allegedly, Dillard refused to fund the entity and instead converted the property for his own use. Kirby also sought a judgment declaring that 1) the will created a trust to be funded by the assets of Iris’ estate, save those specifically bequeathed to Dillard, 2) Kirby and Iris’ grandchildren were the remainder beneficiaries of the trust corpus once the trust ended, 3) the trustee was entitled to invade the trust principal on behalf of Dillard only when necessary to maintain and support Dillard, 4) Dillard breached his fiduciary duty of loyalty by placing his “self-interest over and above his obligation to protect the interests” of the trust beneficiaries, 5) Dillard converted the trust assets, 6) Dillard be removed as trustee, 7) Dillard violated § 384 of the Texas Probate Code by failing to fund the trust, and 8) Dillard provided an accounting as required by statute.

Upon trial, the court entered its order (signed on September 18, 2000) declaring that the will created a testamentary trust, granted Dillard a life estate in its assets, granted Kirby and Iris’ grandchildren (Todd, Dana, and Shannon) a remainder interest in the trust once it terminated, bequeathed to Dillard (free of trust) only Iris’ “personal effects” since all other real and personal property “including cash, stocks, bonds, partnership interests, and all funds in financial institutions” passed to the trust, and limited the trustee’s ability to encroach upon the trust principal on behalf of Dillard to circumstances when additional funds were needed for his maintenance and support “when taking into account all other resources available to him.” The trial court also removed Dillard as trustee, awarded various bank and financial accounts to him, and ordered that Dillard “provide an accounting ... of all Trust assets.... ” Approximately one year later, (that is, on October 3, 2001) an order which approved of the amended accounting submitted by Dillard was signed by the trial court. It is from these two orders that the parties appealed.

Dillard’s Appeal

As previously mentioned, Dillard attacks both orders via three issues. We address each in the order presented.

Issue One-Jurisdiction

Dillard initially contended that the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit. This was allegedly so because the Yoakum County Court previously entered a final order (that is, the one it signed on December 15, 1995) stating that Dillard “was the sole distributee” of Iris’ estate and the parties were obligated to attack that determination in the Yoakum County Court or by direct appeal from that court’s order. We overrule the contention for the following reasons.

First, Dillard does not dispute, on appeal, that the will created a trust. To the extent that Kirby sought a construction of the terms of that trust, to remove the trustee, to determine the liability of the trustee, to ascertain the beneficiaries *391 of the trust, to determine questions involving the administration and distribution of the trust, and to acquire an accounting, those matters were within the original and exclusive jurisdiction of the district court. Tex. Prop.Code Ann.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

in the Interest of D. A. A-B., a Child
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
O'Shea v. O'Shea
Maine Superior, 2020
In Re Estate of Catlin
311 S.W.3d 697 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Estate of Jerry Don Catlin
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010
Gammill v. Fettner
297 S.W.3d 792 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
In Re the Estate of Walker
250 S.W.3d 212 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Holmes v. Beatty
233 S.W.3d 494 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Keisling v. Landrum
218 S.W.3d 737 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
In Re Estate of Wilson
213 S.W.3d 491 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Danielle Williams v. Jerry W. Williams, Jr.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
in the Estate of Roy L. Wilson
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Rogers v. Ardella Veigel Inter Vivos Trust No. 2
162 S.W.3d 281 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Gustavo Ramirez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 S.W.3d 386, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1656, 2003 WL 367860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-dillard-texapp-2003.