In re the Estate of Chrisman

746 S.W.2d 131, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 444, 1988 WL 16149
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1988
DocketNo. 53226
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 746 S.W.2d 131 (In re the Estate of Chrisman) 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
In re the Estate of Chrisman, 746 S.W.2d 131, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 444, 1988 WL 16149 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

SIMON, Presiding Judge.

Appeal by petitioner, Jack Hannebaum, a contingent remainderman under a residuary trust established by the last will and testament of his uncle, Merrill W. Chris-man (decedent), from an order involving an “accounting” by Ruth L. Chrisman, a co-personal representative of decedent’s estate, entered April 20, 1987, in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County. On appeal, petitioner avers that the trial court erred: (1) in finding Ruth L. Chrisman, decedent’s surviving spouse, and co-personal representative and co-trustee under decedent’s will, subject to a surcharge of $7,240.00 for the unreasonable retention of improper estate investments because said finding arbitrarily reduced her joint and several liability on improper investments inventoried at $14,480.00; (2) “in finding [Ruth L.] Chris-man purchased 100 shares of American Express Company and 100 shares of Toys-R-Us on August 2, 1983, with her personal funds”; and, (3) “in failing to surcharge [Ruth L.] Chrisman for the total of funds designated as ’unidentified withdrawals’ and with the sum of $15,000.00 which disappeared without explanation.”

The history of the instant case is extraordinary to say the least and requires a somewhat detailed account. Decedent died testate on September 22, 1979. Now, eight and one-half years later, the record indicates that there has been no final settlement of the estate.

In September, 1984, petitioner retained counsel and filed motions to compel final settlement and to remove Mrs. Chrisman and William H. Wisbrock as personal representatives of decedent’s estate and as trustees of a marital trust and a residuary trust established by decedent’s will. At that time, probate court records indicated the co-personal representatives had not filed any settlements since the grant of letters testamentary on October 15, 1979. The trial court ordered that annual settlements for 1984 and the preceding four years be filed on various dates throughout October, 1984, but no settlements were filed. Upon petitioner’s motion to compel compliance, the trial court then ordered the settlements filed by November 19, 1984. The settlements were filed on that date, and first amended settlements were filed December 18, 1984. Petitioner took exception to the amended settlements.

On June 5,1985, after extended skirmishing between the parties, a hearing was conducted on petitioner’s motions. Following the hearing, the trial court issued extensive findings of fact, conclusions of law, and orders. The trial court found numerous incidents of mismanagement on the part of Mrs. Chrisman and Mr. Wisbrock. The trial court removed Mrs. Chrisman and Mr. Wisbrock as personal representatives of the estate, removed Mrs. Chrisman as co-trustee of the marital and the residuary trusts, and accepted Mr. Wisbrock’s resignation as co-trustee of both trusts. It surcharged Mrs. Chrisman individually the sum of $359,495.44; Mr. Wisbrock, $96,-637.85; and Mrs. Chrisman and Mr. Wis-brock $11,375.10, jointly and severally. The trial court appointed Jefferson County Public Administrator Larry A. Church the successor personal representative. No appeal was taken from these orders. Apparently, Mrs. Chrisman paid the entire joint surcharge of $11,375.10 and has satisfied the $859,495.44 surcharge. Mr. Wisbrock, however, offered to pay the estate $40,-000.00 in settlement of his liability. After an inquiry into Mr. Wisbrock’s finances, the trial court, referring to Mr. Wisbrock as personally insolvent and judgment proof, entered an order permitting the successor personal representative to accept the $40,000.00 settlement by Mr. Wisbrock, [133]*133and providing that one-half of the $11,-375.10 surcharge, plus interest, be returned to Mrs. Chrisman. Again, no appeal was taken from this order.

In addition to the aforementioned orders, the trial court imposed a resulting trust upon all stocks, bonds, mutual funds, unit trusts, money market funds or like investments purchased by Ruth L. Chrisman since September 22, 1979, the date of decedent’s death, together with any and all interest, dividends, capital distributions, or other payments on account of a beneficial interest in any of the foregoing investments. The trial court further ordered that Mrs. Chrisman render an accounting of all the foregoing assets on or before September 30, 1985, to insure the payment of surcharges.

On March 6, 1986, Larry Church, successor personal representative, filed a motion to have Mrs. Chrisman cited for contempt for her failure to file the accounting. The trial court entered a compliance order on March 13,1986, establishing April 10,1986, as the compliance date. Compliance was not had until May 7,1986, when Mrs. Chris-man filed hundreds of pages of monthly bank statements, check registers, broke» age house monthly statements, and pass book records. Petitioner filed suggestions in opposition to the “accounting.” A hearing held on December 17, 1986, on the accounting issue resulted in new findings, conclusions, and orders issued by the trial court on April 20, 1987.

The trial court found that the documents filed with the court by Mrs. Chrisman did not constitute a full and complete accounting and that a complete accounting was impossible because the personal representatives (Mrs. Chrisman & Mr. Wisbrock) did not keep adequate records. The trial court found, however, that the records were “sufficient to enable the court to reach a just resolution of most of the issues yet remaining.” The trial court concluded that the records tended to show that Mrs. Chris-man had commingled estate funds with her personal funds and that the records did allow for some tracing.

At the time of his death, Merrill Chris-man owned ten units each of MGF 78 and MGF 79, interests in a limited partnership acquired as tax shelters. The estate inventory value of the units was $14,480.00. As of December, 1986, the value of the units was $1322.00. Petitioner sought to have this decrease in value restored to the estate. The court entered an order surcharging Ruth Chrisman for one-half of the inventory value of the units, or $7,240.00, in exchange for ownership of the units, and designated such order final for purposes of appeal.

The court also found that Ruth Chrisman had commingled $20,000.00 of the estate’s funds with her personal funds. The $20,-000.00 was deposited in her personal bank account, and she purchased various shares of stock of American Express Co., Sears, and Toys-R-Us through her brokerage firm on August 2,1983. It should be noted that the account in question had many other transactions as well. The court found that Ruth Chrisman had purchased the American Express stock and the Toys-R-Us stock with funds traceable to her personal funds and that the Sears stock was purchased with commingled funds.

The trial court made no findings with respect to withdrawals from various personal accounts of Mrs. Chrisman and estate accounts. These withdrawals are designated on the monthly account summaries only as “unidentified withdrawals.” Nor did the trial court make findings with respect to $15,000.00 which was not finally accounted for.

In his first point, petitioner maintains that the trial court erred in ordering Mrs. Chrisman subject to a surcharge of $7,240.00 for the improper retention of the MGF 78 and MGF 79 investments because in so doing, the trial court arbitrarily reduced her joint and several liability on the investments which were inventoried at $14,480.00. As noted, this order has been designated final for purposes of appeal.

Following the December 17,1986 hearing on the accounting issue, the trial court found:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
746 S.W.2d 131, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 444, 1988 WL 16149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-chrisman-moctapp-1988.