in the Estate of Billy Joe Wlecyk A/K/A Billy Joe Wleczyk

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided April 20, 2021·No. 01-19-00299-CV·Published

Opinion

Opinion issued April 20, 2021

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

15, 2016 (the “2016 codicil”). In three issues, Daniel contends that the trial court erred in admitting the 2001 will and the 2016 codicil to probate.

We affirm.

Background

Billy Joe died on January 30, 2018. On February 1, 2018, Sharon Reed, his daughter, filed an Application for Probate of Will and Letters Testamentary, alleging that “[Billy Joe] resided in in Brazoria County, Texas at the time of his death” and that he left the 2001 will, “dated August 9, 2001 and ratified on July 15, 2016, duly executed with all the formalities and solemnities required by law to make it a valid will, and [it] was never revoked by [Billy Joe].”

Reed attached the 2001 will to her application. The 2001 will names Reed as independent executrix. It identifies “Jerry W. Wleczyk, Debbie C. Wleczyk, All[a]n W. Wleczyk and Sharon D. Reed” as Billy Joe’s children and provides for payment of Billy Joe’s “[d]ebts, [e]xpenses, and [d]eath [t]axes,” with the remaining property to be given “to [his] children who survive [him], in equal shares,” or, if not surviving, to those children’s descendants, or otherwise to “then living blood related [h]eirs at [l]aw.” In an open space on the bottom of the page, following the second of two self-proving affidavits attached to the 2001 will, a handwritten note reads, “This will still stands July 2016,” followed by a handwritten signature reading “Billy Joe Wleczyk.” Another page follows, containing a jurat reciting that the document was

“signed and sworn to” in Brazoria County “on this 15[th] day of July 2016 by the said Billy Joe Wleczyk” before Kimberly Miller, and contains Miller’s signature, notary public seal, and the expiration date of her notary public commission.

On February 14, 2018, Daniel filed a counter-application to probate a will executed by Billy Joe on August 23, 2005 (the “2005 will”). In her counter-application, Daniel alleged that the 2005 will remained in effect and she contested the effectiveness of “the written notation alleged to be in the [Billy Joe’s] handwriting at the bottom of the [2001 will] to qualify . . . as a new [w]ill or publishing of a prior [w]ill.” According to Daniel, the 2016 codicil was made by fraud.

Daniel attached to her counter-application the 2005 will. The 2005 will names Daniel as independent executrix. It directs that each of his children receive $25.00 in cash and “all of the rest of [his] estate” be given “to [his] good friend, [Daniel],” or, if she predeceased him or did not survive him by thirty days, “to [Daniel’s] son, Mark Travis Daniel.”

At the trial of the will contest, Miller testified that she has been an administrative assistant for a sheriff’s department for over twenty years and holds a notary public commission in connection with that employment. Reed is her co-worker and has been for many years. Miller “worked a couple of fundraisers for work” with Reed, but they did not socialize at each other’s homes or go out for meals

or drinks together. She had met Billy Joe twice, once at Reed’s mother’s funeral and another time at a fundraiser.

On July 15, 2016, Miller received a call from Reed asking her to witness and notarize Billy Joe’s writing and signature at the home of Reed’s brother and Billy Joe’s son, Allan Wleczyk (“Allan”). Reed knew that Miller lived in the city of Sweeny, in Brazoria County, as did Allan, so “[s]he was the closest” co-worker who was a notary public, “and [Reed] happened to call and [Miller] had gotten off work early that day and [she] happened to be home.”

Miller arrived at Allan’s home midafternoon. Present at the home were Billy Joe, Reed, Allan, and Allan’s wife, Pamela Wleczyk (“Pamela”). Miller was aware that before she arrived, Billy Joe had been working “in the hayfield” next to Allan’s home.

The group stood in the driveway of Allan’s home while Billy Joe wrote, “This will still stands July 2016,” and signed his name underneath. Billy Joe used a pen that he had in his pocket and used the hood of a car as his writing surface. Either right before or right after he made the writing, Billy Joe said, “This is the one I want to use.” (Internal quotations omitted.)

Miller notarized Billy Joe’s signature using a printed notary page that she brought from home, where she “kept a few” extra pages in a folder, “just in case” someone asked her to perform notary services outside of work. According to Miller,

the weather was hot, and Billy Joe looked “maybe a little agitated,” but he appeared to be of sound mind and body.

Reed testified that she is the daughter of Billy Joe, who died while he was baling hay on or about January 30, 2018, in Brazoria County. Billy Joe was seventy-seven years old when he died. Reed confirmed that she was asking the court to admit to probate her father’s 2001 will, which he republished as his last will and testament on July 15, 2016, thereby revoking his 2005 will. The 2001 will leaves all Billy Joe’s property “to [Reed] and [her] two brothers and [her] sister.” Those four individuals were all of Billy Joe’s children; he had no other children, either by birth or by adoption.

According to Reed, Billy Joe had been married four times: once to Reed’s mother, once to Maxine Strid, and twice to Sandra Ducrose. The final divorce decree ending his last marriage, to Ducrose, was signed in March 2002.

Reed understood that the 2005 will executed by Billy Joe leaves all Billy Joe’s property to Daniel, or to Daniel’s son. Daniel was Billy Joe’s “live-in friend.”

Reed was present when Billy Joe wrote the 2016 codicil on the 2001 will.

Earlier in the afternoon on that day, Billy Joe had called her and asked what she was doing. She told him that she was at home preparing to go camping, and he asked, “Can you bring me the will? Do you still have the will? . . . I need to write something on it.” (Internal quotations omitted.) Reed removed the 2001 will from her “gun

safe,” where she had stored it for safekeeping, and brought it to Billy Joe, who was at Allan’s home. Allan, Pamela, and Miller also were there. Reed handed Billy Joe the 2001 will, and “[h]e put it on the hood of [Reed’s] car and pulled a pen out of his shirt.” Then, using the car hood as a writing surface, Billy Joe wrote, “This will still stands,” and placed his signature underneath the writing. (Internal quotations omitted.) As he was writing, he had “ink issues” with his pen and “had to kind of keep going over the first letter,” and he “started griping about the pen.”

Pamela testified that she has been married to Allan for nearly six years. On July 15, 2016, she was driving her golf cart on their property to bring Billy Joe and Allan, who had been working in the hayfield next to the house, something to drink. As she pulled up in front of the driveway, she saw Billy Joe walking toward Reed’s car. Reed had brought some papers and “had gotten out of her car and [Billy Joe] was . . . writing on them.” Pamela “didn’t really know what was going on” and she “didn’t ask,” but she saw Billy Joe writing on the papers on the hood of Reed’s car. No one told Billy Joe what to do, and he appeared to be of sound mind and body and to be making the writing of his own free will. Pamela was too far away to see what Billy Joe was writing, but she was familiar with Billy Joe’s handwriting from having seen “a couple of checks” he had written to her husband and birthday cards that he had signed. She recognized the 2016 codicil as being in Billy Joe’s handwriting.

Pamela also testified that “not too long before” Billy Joe wrote the 2016 codicil, Daniel told her that Billy Joe had been trying to make her move out of his house. Daniel “was just talking about [Billy Joe] and how mean he was to her and he wanted her to leave . . . .” Pamela said, “Well, why don’t you leave,” and Daniel responded, “I don’t want to go live with my dad.” (Internal quotations omitted).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

in the Estate of Billy Joe Wlecyk A/K/A Billy Joe Wleczyk, (Tex. Ct. App. 2021).

in the Estate of Billy Joe Wlecyk A/K/A Billy Joe Wleczyk (in the Estate of Billy Joe Wlecyk A/K/A Billy Joe Wleczyk) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Seagull Energy E & P, Inc. v. Eland Energy, Inc.
207 S.W.3d 342 (Texas Supreme Court, 2006)
In the Estate of Cornes
175 S.W.3d 491 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Cason v. Taylor
51 S.W.3d 397 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Guthrie v. Suiter
934 S.W.2d 820 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Harkins v. Crews
907 S.W.2d 51 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
In Re Estate of Brown
507 S.W.2d 801 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1974)
Dunn v. Dunn
177 S.W.3d 393 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
In Re Estate of Hendler
316 S.W.3d 703 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
City of Keller v. Wilson
168 S.W.3d 802 (Texas Supreme Court, 2005)
Miles v. Peacock
229 S.W.3d 384 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Ashley v. Usher
384 S.W.2d 696 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)
Wells v. Royall Nat. Bank of Palestine
249 S.W.2d 695 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Matter of Rogers
895 S.W.2d 375 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Hinson v. Hinson
280 S.W.2d 731 (Texas Supreme Court, 1955)
Stephen Patrick McAleer v. Karen Christopher McAleer
394 S.W.3d 613 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Mark Thompson, Sr. v. Karen Smith
483 S.W.3d 87 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
In re Estate of Danford
550 S.W.3d 275 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
McKeehan v. Wilmington Sav. Fund Soc'y, FSB
554 S.W.3d 692 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)