In Re Last Will and Testament of Lynn

878 So. 2d 1052, 2004 WL 1615215
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJuly 20, 2004
Docket2001-CA-00922-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 878 So. 2d 1052 (In Re Last Will and Testament of Lynn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Last Will and Testament of Lynn, 878 So. 2d 1052, 2004 WL 1615215 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

878 So.2d 1052 (2004)

In the Matter of the LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF Mary Ellen LYNN, Deceased.
James E. Lynn, Sr., Appellant/Cross-Appellee
v.
Grace Lynn, Johnny Lynn, Jerry Lynn, Raymond Lynn, George Lynn, Patricia Barnes and Frances Holliday, Co-Executrixes of the Estate of Mary Ellen Lynn, Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

No. 2001-CA-00922-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

July 20, 2004.

*1053 C. Ashley Atkinson, attorney for appellant.

Lee Davis Thames, Jackson, Harry Jones Rosenthal, attorneys for appellees.

EN BANC.

BRIDGES, P.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. The estate of Mary Ellen Lynn consisted primarily of fifty acres in Warren County, Mississippi. It was Mary's wish that this property be divided among her eight children. Since Mary's death in December of 1990, Mary's children have been in dispute over the partition of this property. A special commissioner was called on to conduct surveys and equitably divide the property. The fourth report of the special commissioner was the final report approved by the chancellor.

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES

I. DID THE CHANCELLOR COMMIT MANIFEST AND REVERSIBLE ERROR BY ORDERING A FURTHER PARTITION OF THE MARY ELLEN LYNN ESTATE BY THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER WITH SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS AS TO HOW TO MAKE THE PARTITION OF THE PROPERTY IN A MORE EQUITABLE MANNER?

II. DID THE CHANCELLOR COMMIT REVERSIBLE ERROR IN HOLDING THERESA LYNN IN CONTEMPT OF COURT?

ISSUE ON CROSS-APPEAL

THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FINDING THE ESTATE HAD NO ASSETS WITH WHICH TO PAY ATTORNEY FEES.

FACTS

¶ 2. Mary Ellen Lynn died on December 22, 1990, in Warren County, Mississippi. She was predeceased by her husband and had eight living children at the time of her death: Fred R. Lynn, Johnny Lynn, Jerry Lynn, Raymond Lynn, George Lynn, James E. Lynn, Patricia Barnes, and Frances Holliday. Mary Ellen's will appointed Patricia and Frances co-executrixes of the estate. It was the wish of Mary Ellen to devise her fifty acres of land in Warren County to her eight children. In the initial filings of the estate Johnny was accidentally omitted as an heir, but that mistake was later corrected.

¶ 3. Division of the land is difficult since the property is along the Mississippi River and floods approximately every ten years. The property has a main road, LeTourneau Road, which runs through it and an "old home place" road which gives access to the river. Each heir desired access to both roads. The division is further complicated *1054 since Johnny, James and George had constructed dwellings and improvements on the land prior to Mary Ellen's death. Incidentally, the court determined that the value of these improvements should not be considered since they actually detract from the value to the land as a whole rather than increase the value. Finally, Raymond sold James his interest in the property so that James' two parcels had to be adjacent.

¶ 4. In August of 1995 Chancellor Barnes determined that the estate should not be closed until the real property was partitioned among the heirs. Lucius Dabney was appointed Special Commissioner by the court and was granted authority to hire a surveyor. The heirs were ordered not to interfere with either Dabney or his surveyor during the completion of their duties. Dabney filed his first report in October of 1996, and the heirs filed objections to it. Their objections were that George did not have access to the Mississippi River and that James had a disproportionate amount of frontage on LeTourneau Road.

¶ 5. In September of 1997, Dabney filed his second report and a few heirs again filed objections. In a hearing to consider the second report, the contention between this family was so severe that an attorney for one party noted that the heirs would never agree to every aspect of a partition. At this hearing the chancellor entered an order prohibiting the heirs from doing any more bulldozer work and prohibiting the heirs from taking action which would encroach on the proposed parcels of each heir.

¶ 6. In April of 1999, James filed a motion to recuse Chancellor Barnes. That motion was granted and the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Donald B. Patterson as special chancellor. Several complaints of contempt were filed back and forth between the heirs. Many of these complaints involved James for improving or adding onto the property in violation of the prohibition from the chancellor, for his blocking the "old home place" road, for prohibiting others access to the Mississippi River, and for his keeping of junk cars on the property. Another contempt complaint was filed against James' wife for interfering with the surveyors and their ability to properly conduct the survey.

¶ 7. In May of 2000, Dabney filed his third report attempting to equally partition the property. A hearing was held in July to consider the heirs' objections to the new report. Their primary complaints were the inequitable amount of frontage each was given along LeTourneau Road, the failure to include "old home place" road in the division, and some parcels were completely low-lying. James received 297.55 feet of frontage on LeTourneau Road with his two parcels, Johnny received 25.03 feet, and Patsy received 48.51 feet.

¶ 8. In the chancellor's August 2000 bench ruling, he rejected the third report proposed by Dabney and dictated additional considerations necessary for the forth and ultimately final report from Dabney, the special commissioner. The chancellor found that some of the parcels had almost no value but noted that dividing the land equally in value was impossible considering the improvements Mary Ellen had allowed heirs to construct prior to her death. He instructed Dabney and his surveyor to divide the property as equitably as possible with the following considerations: (1) The special commissioner should determine what structures were constructed prior to Mary Ellen's death and which ones were done in bad faith, like additions made to his barn by James. (2) The special commissioner should include the "old home place" road and James and Johnny should unblock the road and driveway to *1055 allow access. (3) The special commissioner should also consider the low areas and drainage problems throughout the property.

¶ 9. In October 2000, the special commissioner and surveyor requested a temporary restraining order and sheriff protection after they were denied access to James' property by his wife. The chancellor granted these orders, and the other parties requested the additional costs arising from the actions of James' wife be paid by her and not the estate.

¶ 10. The fourth report of the special commissioner was filed in December of 2000 and contained the changes the chancellor requested in the third report. The chancellor held judgment against the estate based on this report, and the Mississippi Supreme Court denied James' request for an interlocutory appeal. The chancellor required Theresa, James' wife, to pay the expenses incurred when she ran the surveyors off the property, and the chancellor did not allow the co-executrixes attorney fees from the estate since the estate was practically insolvent with the partitioned property as its only major asset.

ANALYSIS

I. DID THE CHANCELLOR COMMIT MANIFEST AND REVERSIBLE ERROR BY ORDERING A FURTHER PARTITION OF THE MARY ELLEN LYNN ESTATE BY THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER WITH SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS AS TO HOW TO MAKE THE PARTITION OF THE PROPERTY IN A MORE EQUITABLE MANNER?

¶ 11.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
878 So. 2d 1052, 2004 WL 1615215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-last-will-and-testament-of-lynn-missctapp-2004.