In re the Estate of Todman

48 V.I. 166, 2006 WL 3940589, 2006 V.I. LEXIS 29
CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedDecember 17, 2006
DocketProbate No. 90/1987
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 48 V.I. 166 (In re the Estate of Todman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands 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 Todman, 48 V.I. 166, 2006 WL 3940589, 2006 V.I. LEXIS 29 (visuper 2006).

Opinion

SWAN, Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(December 17th, 2006)

Before the Court is the Estate of Harris A. Todman’s (the “Estate”) Motion to Re-Affirm the Court’s Order dated August 17th, 1988] which ordered Tyrone Davis, the Administrator of Harris Todman’s Estate, to convey title to Parcel No. 14 Estate Emmaus, St. John, United States Virgin Islands to Christian R. Moorhead and John S. Moorhead. Also before the Court is the Estate’s June 17th, 1994 Motion to Reject Claim and Motion to Order Administrator to Convey Title of Parcels 14A and 14 Remainder Estate Emmaus to John S. Moorhead and Christian Moorhead. For the reasons enumerated below, the Estate’s motion to reaffirm the Court’s August 17th, 1988 Order is GRANTED, and the Estate’s motion for order directing the Administrator to convey title to Parcels 14A and 14 Remainder is MOOT.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 22, 1971, Harris A. Todman (“Todman” or “Decedent”), received Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) from James Moorhead (“Moorhead”), and simultaneously executed a Contract of Sale (the “Contract”) to convey Parcels Nos. 13 and 14 Estate Emmaus, Coral Bay [170]*170Quarter, St. John, United States Virgin Islands to Mr. Moorhead.1 The Contract specifically stated that “Seller [was] the owner of Parcels 13 and 14 Estate Emmaus, Coral Bay Quarter, St. John...his title to Parcel 13 resting on conveyance to him from the heirs of Nellie Biel, and his title to Parcel 14, being held as devisee or distributee of the Estate of Caroline George, [his mother], deceased, which estate is in administration and has not yet closed ...”

Essentially, at the time of execution of the Contract, Mr. Todman was the record owner of Parcel No. 13, but his interest or anticipated ownership of Parcel No. 14 arose from his status as sole heir of his mother, Caroline George, who was already deceased. The Contract explicitly provided that Mr. Todman would immediately convey Parcel No. 13 Estate Emmaus to Moorhead, but that he would convey title to Parcel No. 14 Estate Emmaus “within 30 days after the adjudication in the pending probate proceedings in the Estate of Caroline George.”2 On May 22, 1971, Mr. Todman conveyed title to Parcel No. 13 to Moorhead by Warranty Deed, which was recorded in the Office of Recorder of Deeds for St. Thomas and St. John on July 20, 1971, in Book 12-Y, Page 12, No. 2279 and entered in the Coral Bay Register, Page 248. The Contract was recorded upon the title records of both Parcel Nos. 13 and 14 Estate Emmaus, in the Office of Recorder of Deeds, Division of St. Thomas and St. John on April 2, 1985, in Book 26-T, Page 145, No. 1253 and entered in the Coral Bay Register, page 243.

Unfortunately, on May 14, 1985, Mr. Todman died. Three days later, on May 17, 1985, the Territorial Court in which the Caroline George Estate was pending issued the final adjudication, adjudicating Caroline George’s Estate, and simultaneously awarded Harris Todman title and ownership to Parcel No. 14, Estate Emmaus, Coral Bay Quarter, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

On October 26, 1997, John Moorhead, the brother of James Moorhead and a creditor of the Decedent, filed a petition for the administration of the Estate of Harris Todman. 15 V.I.C. 236. In the Petition, John Moorhead asserts that Harris Todman, the Decedent, died intestate and [171]*171that he is a creditor of the Decedent. John Moorhead further asserts that his claim as creditor emanated from the fact that his brother, James Moorhead, after purchasing Parcel No. 14 Estate Emmaus from Decedent Harris Todman, assigned his interest in the property to his brother, Christian Moorhead, who subsequently assigned a one-half interest in the property to another brother, John Moorhead. Accordingly, at that juncture, Parcel No. 14 is purportedly owned jointly by Christian Moorhead and John Moorhead, each holding a one-half, undivided interest in Parcel No. 14.

On February 25, 1988, the Court appointed Tyrone Davis the administrator of the Decedent’s Estate. Subsequently, Mr. Davis filed a motion seeking permission to convey title to Parcel No. 14 to Christian Moorhead and John Moorhead. On August 17, 1988, Territorial Court Judge Alphonso Christian granted Davis’s motion for permission to convey title to parcel 14 Estate Emmaus to both John S. Moorehead and Christian Moorhead. No appeal was taken from Judge Christian’s Order.

Significantly, five days later on August 23, 1988, Samuel Petersen filed a Petition for Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Harris Todman. Harris Todman allegedly executed that will on December 16, 1977, and it apparently named Samuel Petersen, Jr. as executor of Todman’s Estate. In his petition for probate, Mr. Petersen requested that Letters of Administration previously granted to Tyrone Davis be revoked, and that new Letters Testamentary be issued to Petersen. On October 3, 1988, Judge Alphonso Christian ordered Mr. Petersen to file certain required documents for the probate proceedings; however, Mr. Peterson failed to file the necessary documents as ordered by Judge Christian. Therefore, on February 8, 1990, almost fifteen (15) months later, Judge Christian dismissed Mr. Petersen’s petition for probate. On May 13, 1993, Tyrone Davis, the Administrator, filed a motion requesting that the Court reopen the matter. Davis also requested permission to convey Parcel Nos. 14 and 14A Remainder Estate Emmaus to John Moorhead and Christian Moorhead.3

Approximately four (4) months later on September 9, 1993, Gwendolyn Todman, Decedent Harris Todman’s daughter-in-law, filed another petition seeking to probate the Estate of Harris Todman. In her [172]*172petition, Mrs. Todman stated that she was the Decedent’s daughter-in-law and primary beneficiary, and she nominates Anesta Sewer to be appointed Administratix of the Estate. On April 5, 1994, Anesta Sewer and her daughter, Lucia Williams, filed a notice of claim upon the Estate of Harris Todman, claiming among other things, that Todman purported to devise Parcel No. 14 to others, including Anesta Sewer, and that Anesta Sewer and Lucia Williams had paid real property taxes on Parcel No. 14 since Decedent’s death in May, 1985.

By order dated October 4, 1996, Territorial Court Judge Soraya Diase granted in part, and denied in part, Administrator Tyrone Davis’ motion to reopen the matter. The order also prohibited Mr. Davis from conveying any property of the Estate without the Court’s prior approval. Alternatively, on October 10, 1996, Mr. Davis filed a Motion to Reaffirm the Court’s Order of August 17, 1988, which had originally granted Mr. Davis permission to convey title of Parcel No. 14 to Christian Moorhead and John Moorhead. On February 5, 1997, Judge Diase reserved ruling on the Administrator’s motion to reaffirm the Court’s August 17, 1988 Order, pending admission to probate of Harris Todman’s Last Will and Testament.

After several years, the case came on for a status hearing before this Court on July 22, 2002. At the July 22, 2002 hearing, the Heirs argued that the Estate’s Motion for an Order Reaffirming the Court’s Order of August 17, 1988, should be denied. The Heirs assert that the Contract to sell Parcel No. 14 to Mr. Moorhead became void upon Decedent’s death, because Decedent did not acquire title to Parcel No. 14 before he died.

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48 V.I. 166, 2006 WL 3940589, 2006 V.I. LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-todman-visuper-2006.