In Re Estate of Scott

151 P.3d 642, 2006 Colo. App. LEXIS 1920, 2006 WL 3316841
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 16, 2006
Docket05CA1568
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 151 P.3d 642 (In Re Estate of Scott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals 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 Scott, 151 P.3d 642, 2006 Colo. App. LEXIS 1920, 2006 WL 3316841 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge TERRY.

Samuel C. Scott (petitioner) appeals from an order of the Denver Probate Court denying and dismissing his petition (2005 petition) in case number 05PR446. We dismiss the appeal.

I.

Petitioner is a beneficiary of a trust being administered in probate case number 00PR225 (2000 case), pending in the same court as the 2005 petition. He filed the 2005 petition, denominated as a Petition to Compel Accounting. Petitioner was represented by the same counsel with respect to both the 2000 case and the 2005 petition.

Making specific reference to the 2000 case, the 2005 petition sought to have John S. Holt (Trustee), the trustee of the trust being administered in the 2000 case, provide to petitioner an accounting of his administration of that trust. The 2005 petition also asked the court to compel Trustee to provide documentation with respect to his professional fees. According to Trustee, his fees had previously been the subject of six separate filings in the 2000 case.

Petitioner was also a party to In re Estate of Scott, 119 P.3d 511 (Colo.App.2004), decided by a division of this court on December 16, 2004, and affirmed in Scott v. Scott, 136 P.3d 892 (Colo.2006). The 2005 petition was filed within a few months after In re Estate of Scott was announced. Rather than file a petition or motion in the 2000 case, as he had done with respect to previous, similar claims, petitioner filed the new 2005 petition and served a summons upon Trustee with respect to the claims raised therein.

The order appealed from here is the Amended Order Re Trustee Accountings issued by the probate court on June 10, 2005. The order’s caption listed the case numbers for both the 2000 case and the 2005 petition. The order specified that petitioner’s request for annual accounting was denied and was moot; his request for monthly accountings was denied; and his motions for judgment on the pleadings and to strike a paragraph of the response to that motion were moot. The order further stated, “[Tjhis case is dismissed and the file is closed.” It is apparent from the context of the order that the court’s dismissal applies only to the 2005 petition, and not to the 2000 case, which is ongoing.

Because it appeared, based upon the supreme court’s decision in Scott, supra, that the order from which petitioner appealed was not a final, appealable judgment or order, and because the probate court had not certified its order as final for purposes of appeal pursuant to C.R.C.P. 54(b), we issued an order asking the parties to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed without [644]*644prejudice. The parties provided written submissions and oral argument responding to the order to show cause. We now dismiss this appeal without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.

II.

The supreme court in Scott, supra, noted the difficulties encountered by appellate courts in discerning whether an order of the probate court is a final, appealable order. The court reviewed the language of various sections of the probate code for guidance:

The definition of “proceeding” provided in the probate code does not resolve [the question of what constitutes a proceeding]. See § 15-10-201(41), C.R.S. (2005) (“Proceeding includes action at law and suit in equity”). However, the code provides some guidance. Section 15-12-107, C.R.S. (2005), entitled “Scope of proceedings,” states that unless supervised administration is involved “[e]ach proceeding before the court or registrar is independent of any other proceeding involving the same estate.” § 15-12-107(l)(a). The statute continues, stating that “[petitions for formal order of the court may combine various requests for relief in a single proceeding if the orders sought may be finally granted without delay.” § 15-12-107(l)(b). Thus, the code instructs that the unsupervised administration of an estate may involve multiple proceedings, that a petition initiates an independent proceeding and defines its scope, and that a single proceeding may dispose of multiple claims.

Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 896. The court further stated, “when the probate court has fully resolved the claims a proceeding presents, the probate court has issued a final judgment.” Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 896 n. 7.

The Scott opinion cited the official comment to § 3-107 of the Uniform Probate Code, which indicates that “the scope of the proceeding ... is framed by the petition.” Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 897.

We are mindful of Scott’s indications that a petition frames the scope of a proceeding; there can be more than one proceeding in the administration of a single estate; and a final judgment exists when the probate court has resolved all claims in a proceeding. Nevertheless, we do not believe the supreme court intended to enable parties to obtain a “final, appealable judgment” by filing a new petition under a new case number, where, as here, determination of the new petition is inextricably linked to the main probate proceeding, and there is no preclusive effect of the probate court’s order as to the new petition. Under the circumstances presented here, we conclude that the 2005 petition is not a “proceeding” separate from the 2000 case.

We base this conclusion in part on Scott’s discussion of the circumstances under which orders of the probate court are final for purposes of appeal. The supreme court ruled that the order in Scott was a final judgment because “there was nothing further for the probate court to do in order to completely determine the rights of the parties regarding the claims raised in that proceeding.” Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 898. “[W]hen the probate court has entered orders fully determining the rights of the parties with respect to all claims raised in a proceeding, a final judgment exists.” Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 899 (emphasis added).

The Colorado Supreme Court quoted with approval the following language from the New Mexico Court of Appeals:

[0]nce a petition is filed, it defines a proceeding. Further pleadings relating to the same subject matter, whether labelled motions or petitions, are part of the same proceeding. When the subject matter of two petitions overlap [sic], it would generally be appropriate to consider both petitions as belonging to the same proceeding.

In re Estate of Newalla, 114 N.M. 290, 837 P.2d 1373, 1377 (Ct.App.1992). The court in Scott went on to state: “We agree that the initial petition outlines a set of claims and begins a proceeding. Subsequent pleadings which relate to that set of claims are part of the same proceeding.” Scott, supra, 136 P.3d at 897.

Here, it is apparent from the probate court’s order that the 2005 petition is part of the same proceeding as the 2000 case and [645]*645could not stand on its own as a separate proceeding. The order noted both case numbers. The court indicated that it had considered “all of the recent pleadings in this ease and the related cases” (emphasis added) in connection with Trustee’s administration of the trust.

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Related

In re Estate of Gadash
2017 COA 54 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
In Re Estate of Scott
151 P.3d 642 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
151 P.3d 642, 2006 Colo. App. LEXIS 1920, 2006 WL 3316841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-scott-coloctapp-2006.