Langston v. Langston

266 S.W.3d 716, 371 Ark. 404, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 578
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 1, 2007
Docket06-1365
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 266 S.W.3d 716 (Langston v. Langston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Langston v. Langston, 266 S.W.3d 716, 371 Ark. 404, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 578 (Ark. 2007).

Opinion

Jim Gunter, Justice.

This appeal arises from an order of the stice. the Sebastian County Circuit Court granting a petition for declaratory judgment filed by Appellee Tony Langston (“Tony”), administrator of the estate of the Honorable Donald Ray Langston (“Langston”), deceased, regarding the application of Arkansas’s implied revocation statute, Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-109(b) (Repl. 2004), revoking a holographic will, which provided that Langston’s estate would pass to Appellant Caroline Louise Langston (“Caroline”). We affirm the circuit court’s ruling.

On May 26, 1978, Langston and Caroline were married. They separated on or about August 2, 1999. On August 10, 1999, Caroline filed for divorce, and the circuit court announced their settlement from the bench on March 20, 2000. On April 7, 2000, Langston wrote a holographic will with the following language:

Will
I, Don Langston, hereby will all my property, real, personal, and money to Caroline Louise Langston.
/s/Don Langston
4-7-2000

In the holographic will, Caroline was not named as the personal representative of the estate. Langston and Caroline were divorced on May 23, 2000, when the circuit court entered the divorce decree. The couple, however, continued a close relationship after their divorce was finalized. According to several affidavits, the couple lived together for four months after the divorce until Caroline could purchase a house. They had keys to one another’s houses. They talked daily and ate meals together. They also attended family, functions together. Langston also paid many of Caroline’s bills after their divorce. Langston, aged sixty-seven, died in Fort Smith on August 8, 2005, without issue.

On August 31, 2005, Caroline filed a petition for probate of will and appointment of personal representative. In the petition, she named herself as the surviving spouse and two aunts as heirs. She also listed the value of the property as $498,000 with $70,000 in real property and $428,000 in personal property. In her petition, she requested that she be named as the “sole beneficiary and distributee of the estate.” Four proofs of the holographic will were also filed on August 31, 2005.

On September 2, 2005, the circuit court entered an order probating Langston’s will and appointing Caroline as the personal representative. A testamentary letter was filed on that same day. However, Langston’s brothers, sisters, and their heirs filed responses to Caroline’s petition on September 16, 2005, November 28, 2005, and December 22, 2005. In their respective petitions, they requested that the court appoint an independent personal representative of the estate and declare the will and benefits invalid.

Further, on February 3, 2006, Langston’s heirs filed a petition to remove Caroline as the personal representative pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-105. On February 3, 2006, the heirs also filed a petition for declaratory judgment, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 16-111-105 (Kepi. 1999), asserting that the implied revocation statute, Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-109, should revoke Caroline’s bequest from inheriting Langston’s estate. Specifically, the heirs argued that Langston’s holographic will was revoked as an operation of law, without respect to the testator’s subjective intent, because Langston’s divorce with Caroline was entered after the execution of the will. Attached to the petition was the May 23, 2000 divorce decree. On February 14, 2006, Caroline responded to the petition to remove her as personal representative and to the petition for declaratory judgment.

On April 4, 2006, Caroline filed a motion for summary-judgment, arguing that the statute was not applicable to the facts and circumstances of the case. With her motion for summary judgment, she filed six affidavits in support. On April 24, 2006, the heirs filed a response to Caroline’s motion for summary judgment, claiming that the holographic will was ineffective. Attached to the heirs’ response to Caroline’s motion for summary judgment was an affidavit by Tony, Langston’s first cousin.

The circuit court entered a letter order, dated September 13, 2006, in which the circuit court ruled that the holographic will was drafted before the divorce was finalized, thereby nullifying the will as void under Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-109(b). The court noted that it was of the opinion that Langston’s intent was to pass the estate to his former wife; however, “he did not legally do so.” The court granted the petition to remove personal representative; noted that the petition for appointment of administrator should be filed with heirs listed; denied Caroline’s motion for summary judgment; and granted the petition for declaratory judgment. On September 25, 2006, the circuit court entered an order to that effect. An order appointing Tony as administrator of Langston’s estate was filed on September 26, 2006. On October 9, 2006, Caroline filed a notice of appeal. From the September 25, 2006 order, Caroline now brings her appeal.

In the present case, the circuit court disposed of the petition for declaratory judgment, the petition to remove personal representative, and the motion for summary judgment after reviewing the petitions, “the responses,” and “the pleadings.” Thus, the standard of review is one for summary judgment. We have stated that summary judgment is to be granted by a trial court only when it is clear that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and the party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Danner v. MBNA Am. Bank, N.A., 369 Ark. 435, 255 S.W.3d 863 (2007). The standard is whether the evidence is sufficient to raise a fact issue, not whether the evidence is sufficient to compel a conclusion. Id. A fact issue exists, even if the facts are not in dispute, if the facts “may result in differing conclusions as to whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and in such an instance, summary judgment is inappropriate.” Id.

On review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidence presented in support of summary judgment leaves a material question of fact unanswered. Id. We view the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was filed, resolving all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Id. Our review focuses not only on the pleadings, but also on the affidavits and other documents filed by the parties. Id.

For her sole point on appeal, Caroline argues that the circuit court erred in granting Tony’s petition for declaratory judgment regarding the application of Arkansas’s implied revocation statute, Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-109(b), and revoking, as a matter of law, a holographic will, executed by Langston, providing that his estate should pass to Caroline. Specifically, Caroline contends that (1) the statute should not operate to revoke the clear testamentary intent of Langston to bequeath his estate to Caroline, and (2) that a divorce decree rendered in .open court was effective on the date that it was actually rendered rather than from the date of entry of record.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
266 S.W.3d 716, 371 Ark. 404, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langston-v-langston-ark-2007.