In re the Estate of Pawlik

845 N.W.2d 249, 2014 WL 1408073, 2014 Minn. App. LEXIS 40
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedApril 14, 2014
DocketNo. A13-1628
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 845 N.W.2d 249 (In re the Estate of Pawlik) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota 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 Pawlik, 845 N.W.2d 249, 2014 WL 1408073, 2014 Minn. App. LEXIS 40 (Mich. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

HOOTEN, Judge.

An heir challenges the district court’s determination that the creditor of another heir has standing to petition for a determination of descent. Because the creditor has a judgment that can be satisfied by the inherited property, the creditor has a property right in the decedent’s estate and has standing under the probate code as an interested person. We affirm.

FACTS

Janet Pawlik died in January 2008, survived by her two sons, appellant Thomas Pawlik and Timothy Pawlik. In January 2012, respondent Charles Bond, a creditor with a docketed judgment against Timothy, petitioned the district court to determine that the decedent died intestate and to assign her estate to Thomas and Timothy under MinmStat. § 525.31.

In April 2012, Thomas objected to Bond’s petition, alleging lack of standing. Thomas also petitioned to probate a copy of the decedent’s will dated December 22, 2002, which leaves the decedent’s entire estate to Thomas. No original will was filed with the district court, but Thomas filed a copy of the purported will signed by the decedent and two witnesses. At trial, one of the witnesses invoked her privilege against self-incrimination and refused to verify her signature. A forensic document examiner testified that the decedent’s signature on the purported will was “transferred from another document by means of cut and paste.”

The district court found that the purported copy of the decedent’s will was not a copy of an original will and that the decedent had not executed a valid will. The district court also concluded that Bond has standing to petition for a determination of descent because he is an interested person under Minn.Stat. § 524.1-201(82). The district court explained that “[wjhile it is rare and unusual that a creditor of an heir would commence a determination of descent proceeding,” Bond has standing because Timothy “has done everything possible to avoid payment of his debt” and “[ejstate assets that would otherwise have gone to Timothy Pawlik were redirected through various means, including falsifying a will, to avoid payment.”1 Accordingly, the district court determined that the decedent died intestate and assigned her estate consisting of real and personal property to Thomas and Timothy in equal shares. This appeal follows.

ISSUE

Did the district court err as a matter of law by determining that Bond, a judgment creditor of an heir, is an interested person under Minn.Stat. § 524.1-201(32), and therefore has standing to petition for a determination of descent under Minn.Stat. § 525.31?

ANALYSIS

We review statutory construction de novo. Am. Family Ins. Grp. v. [251]*251Schroedl, 616 N.W.2d 273, 277 (Minn.2000). “When construing a statute, our goal is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature.” Id. at 278. “If the meaning of a statute is unambiguous, we interpret the statute’s text according to its plain language. If a statute is ambiguous, we apply other canons of construction to discern the legislature’s intent.” Brua v. Minn. Joint Underwriting Ass’n, 778 N.W.2d 294, 300 (Minn.2010) (citation omitted). We construe words and phrases “according to rules of grammar and according to their common and approved usage.” Minn.Stat. § 645.08(1) (2012).

Under Minn.Stat. § 525.31, “any interested person” may petition the district court to determine descent of a decedent’s property and to assign the property if more than three years has passed since death and no probate proceeding has commenced.

“Interested person” includes heirs, devi-sees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries and any others having a property right in or claim against the estate of a decedent, ward or protected person which may be affected by the proceeding. It also includes persons having priority for appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries representing interested persons. The meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time and must be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding.

Minn.Stat. § 524.1-201(32).

The parties’ arguments focus on the first sentence of section 524.1-201(32). Thomas argues that “it is clear from the specific statutory language that what makes one an ‘interested person’ is the existence of ‘a property right in or claim against the estate of decedent.’ ” In contrast, Bond argues that the provision “does not limit ‘creditors’ to creditors of the estate” and that, even if it does, he is still an interested person because he falls under the “any others” category of the provision.

We first note that the text of section 524.1-201(32) evidences the legislature’s intention that the term “interested person” is to be applied broadly. The first sentence provides that the term “interested person” includes seven categories of people. Likewise, the second sentence provides that the term includes two more categories. The plain meaning of “includes” refers to a nonexhaustive and nonexclusive list. See LaMont v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 728, 814 N.W.2d 14, 19 (Minn.2012) (stating that “[t]he word ‘includes’ is not exhaustive or exclusive”); The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 888 (5th ed.2011) (defining “include” as “[t]o contain or take in as a part, element, or member” and “[t]o consider as part of or allow into a group or class”). The third sentence of the statute further provides that the meaning of an “interested person” “as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time.” This provision evidences the legislature’s recognition that courts have discretion to examine the particular circumstances at the time to determine who qualifies as an “interested person.” See Minn.Stat. § 645.44, subd. 15 (2012) (defining “may” as permissive language).

Turning to the first sentence of section 524.1-201(32), we conclude that the provision is ambiguous because it is unclear from the text whether the qualifying phrase “having a property right in or claim against the estate of a decedent” modifies only the noun “any others” or modifies all nouns in the series “heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries and any others.” The resolution of this ambiguity turns on the applicability of two canons of statutory interpretation: the last-ante[252]*252cedent canon and the series-qualifier canon.

Under the last-antecedent canon, a qualifying phrase ordinarily modifies only the noun or phrase it immediately follows. See Woodhall v. State, 738 N.W.2d 357, 361-62 (Minn.2007) (citing Barnhart v. Thomas, 540 U.S. 20, 26, 124 S.Ct. 376, 380, 157 L.Ed.2d 333 (2003) (construing the Social Security Act and concluding that the qualifying phrase “which exists in the national economy” modifies only the noun immediately following it: “any other kind of substantial gainful work”)).

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Bluebook (online)
845 N.W.2d 249, 2014 WL 1408073, 2014 Minn. App. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-pawlik-minnctapp-2014.