IN RE THE MATTER OF: ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL VS. BEATE BOESL

CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 21, 2020
DocketWD83296
StatusPublished

This text of IN RE THE MATTER OF: ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL VS. BEATE BOESL (IN RE THE MATTER OF: ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL VS. BEATE BOESL) 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 MATTER OF: ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL VS. BEATE BOESL, (Mo. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

CORRECTED July 22, 2020

In the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District IN RE THE MATTER OF: ) ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST ) ) WD83296 RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL, ) ) OPINION FILED: July 21, 2020 Appellant, ) ) v. ) ) BEATE BOESL, ) ) Respondent. )

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Platte County, Missouri The Honorable James Van Amburg, Judge

Before Division Four: Cynthia L. Martin, Chief Judge, Presiding, Alok Ahuja, Judge and W. Douglas Thomson, Judge

Raymond Brightwell ("Raymond") 1 appeals the trial court's entry of summary

judgment ("Judgment") in favor of Beate Boesl 2 ("Beate") dismissing Raymond's

1 Because multiple parties share the same surname, we refer to each party by their first name. No familiarity or disrespect is intended. 2 The record reflects that Beate's surname is spelled alternatively as "Bosl" and "Boesl." This discrepancy is attributed to Beate's surname including an umlauted character that does not appear in the English alphabet. Consistent with the Judgment, we defer to the trial court's use of "Boesl." registration of the Annaliese A. Brightwell Trust Agreement (the "Original Trust").

Raymond contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because (1) the

trial court relied on testimony received during an evidentiary hearing when motions for

summary judgment are to be determined based on uncontroverted facts supported by

affidavits and other matters of record; (2) the trial court improperly determined the validity

of competing trust instruments to dismiss his trust registration as part of the trust

registration process; (3) the trial court determined the validity of trust instruments without

having all interested parties before it; and (4) genuine issues of material fact were in dispute

precluding the entry of summary judgment on the issue of the validity of various trust

instruments. Because the trial court erroneously determined the validity of trust

instruments to dismiss Raymond's trust registration in the absence of a duly initiated

judicial proceeding that afforded notice to all interested persons, we reverse.

Factual and Procedural Background

On May 16, 2000, Annaliese A. Brightwell ("Annaliese") executed the Original

Trust naming Annaliese and her husband, William Brightwell ("William"), as co-trustees.

The Original Trust named Annaliese and William's son, Raymond, as successor trustee.

William died in 2009. In October 2009, Annaliese executed a First Amendment and

Complete Restatement of the Annaliese A. Brightwell Trust Agreement ("First Amended

and Restated Trust"). The First Amended and Restated Trust named Annaliese as the sole

trustee and Beate 3 as the successor trustee. In October 2011, Annaliese executed a Second

3 The record reflects that Beate is the wife of Robert Boesl ("Robert"). Robert is Annaliese's biological child and was born in Germany shortly after World War II.

2 Amendment and Complete Restatement of the Annaliese A. Brightwell Trust Agreement

("Second Amended and Restated Trust") which also named Annaliese as the sole trustee

and Beate as the successor trustee.

In February 2019, Annaliese died. On March 1, 2019, Raymond filed a Registration

of Trust statement in the Circuit Court of Platte County, Missouri pursuant to sections

456.027 through 456.033. 4 The Registration of Trust statement attached the Original Trust.

On April 29, 2019, Beate filed a Motion to Dismiss Raymond's Registration of Trust

statement. Beate argued that Raymond had no standing to register a trust instrument

because the First and Second Amended and Restated Trusts revoked the Original Trust and

Raymond was no longer the successor trustee. The Motion to Dismiss attached the First

and Second Amended and Restated Trusts.

Raymond opposed the Motion to Dismiss and challenged the validity of the First

and Second Amended and Restated Trusts because originals of those instruments could not

be located. Following a case management conference, Beate abandoned her Motion to

Dismiss and filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. The Motion for Summary Judgment

argued that Raymond's Registration of Trust statement should be dismissed because the

Original Trust was no longer valid, and instead, the Second Amended and Restated Trust

was the controlling trust instrument. Raymond filed suggestions in opposition and a

statement of uncontroverted facts, arguing that the First and Second Amended and Restated

Trusts were not valid because they had been secured through undue influence and had been

4 All statutory references are to RSMo 2016, as supplemented through the date of Raymond's Registration of Trust statement filed on March 1, 2019, except as otherwise noted.

3 revoked by destruction. Raymond later filed supplemental suggestions in opposition which

argued that the trust registration process does not provide a forum for determining

contested issues about a trust's validity, and that a proper judicial proceeding contesting

trust validity requires notice to all interested parties, including beneficiaries.

Beate set her Motion for Summary Judgment for hearing on October 16, 2019. At

the hearing, Beate sought to present evidence through two witnesses. Raymond objected,

arguing that the noticed hearing was on the Motion for Summary Judgment and that

"[r]eceiving evidence is . . . the antithesis of a Motion for Summary Judgment." Beate

argued that she was "entitled to present evidence . . . to show that the facts are, in fact,

uncontroverted." The trial court permitted Beate's witnesses to testify, and both witnesses

were cross-examined. During the hearing, counsel for Beate advised the trial court that the

sole issue to be determined was whether Raymond's Registration of Trust statement should

be dismissed because he was no longer the successor trustee. Raymond argued that

registration of the Original Trust was an uncontested, administrative procedure, and that it

was not proper to determine the validity of trust instruments as part of the trust registration

process.

The trial court entered judgment on October 25, 2019 ("Judgment"). The Judgment

noted that the matter being determined was Beate's "Motion for Summary Judgment on the

filing of [Raymond's] Registration of Trust." The Judgment concluded that having

"considered the pleadings, motions, evidence, and suggestions submitted and having heard

the arguments of counsel," there "are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute." The

Judgment found that "the [Original Trust], executed on May 16, 2000 is no longer in effect,

4 having been amended and completely restated twice;" that "the trust instrument [Raymond]

seeks to register with the Court is no longer in full force or effect, and is void as it is

contrary to the intent of [Annaliese] as clearly and unambiguously set forth in the duly

executed [Second Amended and Restated Trust];" that the Second Amended and Restated

Trust "is in full force and effect;" and that as a result, the Court "refuses to register the prior

amended, and void, trust instrument and enters judgment as a matter of law in favor of

[Beate]." The Judgment dismissed Raymond's Registration of Trust statement with

prejudice.

Raymond filed this timely appeal.

Standard of Review

We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Truman Medical Center, Inc.

v.

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IN RE THE MATTER OF: ANNALIESE BRIGHTWELL TRUST RAYMOND L. BRIGHTWELL VS. BEATE BOESL, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-matter-of-annaliese-brightwell-trust-raymond-l-brightwell-vs-moctapp-2020.