In re the Succession of Beard

147 So. 3d 753, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1717, 2014 WL 3610857, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1514
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 6, 2014
DocketNo. 2013 CA 1717
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 147 So. 3d 753 (In re the Succession of Beard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Succession of Beard, 147 So. 3d 753, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1717, 2014 WL 3610857, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1514 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

CRAIN, J.

Un this succession proceeding, a legatee filed a petition seeking to terminate a testamentary usufruct or, alternatively, requesting that the usufructuary post security. The trial court granted a partial summary judgment finding that the usu-fructuary had the right to sell the property subject to the usufruct; and, after a trial, the court entered a judgment that denied any relief to the petitioner. We amend the summary judgment and affirm the judgment as amended; and we reverse, in part, the judgment on the merits and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Carole Bagwell Beard died testate on November 5, 1998. Her surviving husband, Julius Beard, Jr., instituted this proceeding shortly after her death and obtained an order probating Carole’s last will and testament. Carole’s will bequeathed to Julius a life-time usufruct over her community property and separate property, except for certain property bequeathed to Julius in full ownership. The usufruct was created in Article IV of the will, which provides, in pertinent part:

4.2 Except for the property which is used in satisfaction of the forced portion of my estate, my spouse shall have the right, power and authority to sell or otherwise dispose of any property subject to my spouse’s usufruct without having to obtain the consent of the naked owners thereof. Should any property subject to the usufruct granted herein to my spouse be sold or exchanged at any time, or from time to time, the usufruct to which said property was subjected shall apply to the proceeds of the sale or exchange of such property and to any property in which such proceeds may from time to time be reinvested.

After probating the will, Julius obtained a judgment of possession on June 29,1994, that, in pertinent part, placed him in possession of the “usufruct for his lifetime of all [of Carole’s] share in the community property and of any separate property” owned by Carole at the time of her death, less and except the property bequeathed to Julius in full ownership. The judgment of possession further provided:

LThat Julius Beard, Jr., be recognized as the surviving spouse in community, and as such entitled to the ownership and sent into possession of an undivided one-half (1/2) interest in the property belonging to the community of acquets and gains which existed between the deceased and her husband, together with usufruct for his lifetime of the remaining undivided one-half (1/2) as provided in the decedent’s Last Will and Testament ... which property is described as follows_(Emphasis added.)

The ensuing list of property consists of both immovable and movable property, including 295.51 acres of immovable property located in East Feliciana Parish (referred to herein as “the farm”) and a parcel of property located in the Virgin Islands, which Julius subsequently sold. The judgment of possession also vested [756]*756each of Carole’s four children, two by a prior marriage and two from her marriage with Julius, with an undivided one-eighth (l/8th) interest in the property subject to the usufruct.

In September of 2008, approximately 14 years after the entry of the judgment of possession, one of Carole’s children from her first marriage, Christopher D. Shows, filed a petition in the succession proceeding seeking to terminate the usufruct based upon allegations that Julius had sold movable and immovable property subject to the usufruct without authorization from the naked owners and that he intended to sell more in the future. The petition further alleged that Julius had allowed fraud, waste, and abuse to impinge and devalue the property, that he failed to prevent encroachments, and that he failed to properly manage the property by diverting, converting, and dissipating the assets. Shows also recorded a notice of lis pendens in the mortgage records for East Feliciana Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish. He subsequently amended the petition to request that Julius be enjoined from selling or otherwise alienating or encumbering the property.

Julius answered and asserted a recon-ventional demand alleging that he was entitled to sell the property in accordance with the judgment of possession and |4Carole’s will. Julius contended that the judgment of possession provided him with all rights and privileges of a usufructuary as provided in Carole’s will, including, without limitation, paragraph 4.2, which set forth the right of the usufructuary to sell the property. He requested that the court declare his authority to sell or exchange the property subject to .the usu-fruct, order the cancellation of the notice of lis pendens, and award him all damages caused by the filing of the notice of lis pendens. The reconventional demand was subsequently amended to include an alternative claim requesting that the court amend or reform the judgment of possession to include the right to sell the property if the court found that the judgment of possession did not already incorporate the pertinent terms of Carole’s will by reference. In response to the reconventional demand, Shows filed a peremptory exception raising the objection of res judicata contending that the judgment of possession could not be modified because it was a final judgment and had the effect of res judicata.

While the exception was pending, Julius moved for a partial summary judgment seeking, among other relief, a judgment: (1) declaring that the provisions of Carole’s will related to the usufruct, including those found in Article IV of the will, are incorporated in the judgment of possession, and/or, in the alternative, amending the judgment of possession to include those provisions; (2) declaring the notices of lis pendens to be null and ordering their cancellation by the respective clerks of court; and (8) declaring that Julius is authorized to sell the property subject to the usufruct without the consent of Shows, with the proceeds thereof to |sbecome part of the usufruct.1 Julius’ exhibits offered in support of the motion included the judgment of possession and Carole’s will.2

[757]*757In addition to his argument that the judgment of possession expressly incorporated the terms of the usufruct contained in Carole’s will, Julius also contended that the judgment statutorily incorporated those terms pursuant to Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 8061C, which provides:

A judgment sending one or more petitioners into possession under a testamentary usufruct or trust automatically incorporates all the terms of the testamentary usufruct or trust without the necessity of stating the terms in the judgment.

This provision was added to Article 8061 by Louisiana Acts 2010, No. 226, § 1, which became effective on August 15, 2010; however, Julius maintained that the amendment was either procedural or curative and, therefore, applied retroactively to the judgment of possession rendered in 1993.

The trial court granted the motion for partial summary judgment and overruled the peremptory exception raising the objection of res judicata, finding that Carole’s will unequivocally gave Julius the authority to sell the property and that the language of the will should be binding. The court further found that the 2010 amendment to Article 3061 applied retroactively but noted that “the court’s ruling would be the same without the legislative enactment” of that amendment.

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Bluebook (online)
147 So. 3d 753, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1717, 2014 WL 3610857, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-succession-of-beard-lactapp-2014.