Lewis v. Green

389 So. 2d 235, 11 A.L.R. 4th 927
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 24, 1980
DocketOO-185/T1-109
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 389 So. 2d 235 (Lewis v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewis v. Green, 389 So. 2d 235, 11 A.L.R. 4th 927 (Fla. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

389 So.2d 235 (1980)

William G. LEWIS, As Executor of the Estate of Beulah Robinson Lewis, Appellant,
v.
Raleigh Travers GREEN, III; Jan Singleton Carter, William Lytle Schultz, and Doris Robinson Schultz, Appellees.

No. OO-185/T1-109.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

September 24, 1980.
Rehearings Denied October 22, 1980.

*237 A. Graham Allen of Freeman, Richardson, Watson, Slade, McCarthy & Kelly, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellant.

J. Grover Henderson of Stein & Henderson, St. Marys, Ga., for appellees.

SHARP, Judge.

The plaintiffs, Raleigh Travers Green, III, Jan Singleton Carter, William Lytle Schultz, and Doris Robinson Schultz, sought a declaratory judgment interpreting their rights under the will of John S. Robinson. This is the second time this will has been construed,[1] and it will not be the last. The defendants are the Barnett Bank of St. Augustine, the trustee of the testamentary trust established by John S. Robinson's will, Margaret L. Dyer, William G. Lewis, and Rose Mae Francis Lewis Neville.[2] The co-executors of the estates of Rose Robinson Lewis and Beulah Robinson Lewis intervened in the suit. They claim that immediate declaratory relief is needed to determine the rights of the estates to inherit under the will, in order to properly administer the estates.[3] Additional defendants are Rose Gordon Neville and Richard Henry Neville, the adopted children of Rose Mae Francis Lewis Neville; and Georgia Mason Furnival, James R. Dyer, Richard L. Furnival, and Margaret Dyer Furnival, the adopted children of Margaret L. Dyer. A "Robinson Family Tree" follows to assist the reader and this court in understanding the relationships of these parties.

*238
                         "ROBINSON FAMILY TREE"
            John S. Robinson (Dec.)
__________________________________________________________________________
    (Children)       Beulah Robinson Lewis (Dec.)
                     (Estate Intervened as[*])
                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
   (Grandchildren)                 |
                                   |
__________________________________________________________________________
   Rose Mae         John Robinson           William G. Lewis[*]
   Francis             Lewis (Dec.)
   Lewis Neville
   (Dec.)  |
           |
  (Great   |  Grandchildren)
           |
           |
--------------------------------------
  Rose Gordon    Richard Neville[*]
   Neville[*]      (adopted)
   (adopted)
                                  Lizette Robinson (Dec.)
__________________________________________________________________________
             Rose R. Lewis (Dec.)        John S. Robinson, Jr. (Dec.)
             (Estate Intervened as [*])
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                            |                         |
                   ___________________       _____________________________
                   Margaret L. Dyer[*]         Doris Robinson Schultz[**]
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |                              |
                       |__________________________________________________
                       | Raleigh Travers   Jan Singleton   William Lytle
                       |  Green III[**]     Carter[**]      Schultz[**]
                       |
                       |
                       |
                       |
______________________________________________________________
    George Mason    Richard L.     James R.     Margaret Dyer
    Furnival[*]     Furnival[*]     Dyer[*]     Furnival[*]
     (adopted)       (adopted)     (adopted)     (adopted)
(Dec.) = Deceased
[*] = Defendant
[**] = Plaintiff

There is no dispute about the facts in this case. John S. Robinson, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, executed his will on April 27, 1910. He and his wife, Lizette, had two daughters, Beulah and Rose. Their son, John, had died in 1909. John left a widow, Florence L. Robinson, and a daughter, Doris. At the time of the testator's death in 1915, Doris was seven years old. Article III of the will provided Doris would receive a $3,000 bequest when she attained 21 years, and conditioned her inheritance under the will as follows:

I further direct that in the event Florence L. Robinson, the mother of my grand-daughter, Doris L. Robinson, shall die before my said grand-daughter, then it is my will and I desire that said grand-daughter shall be given in sole charge of one of my three first named trustees[4] and my said trustees shall provide for the maintenance, care and education of my said grand-daughter out of the income from my estate until she shall reach the age of twenty-one years, and she shall share in my estate as my other grand-children as hereinafter provided, but in *239 the event the said Doris L. Robinson shall not be given in charge of my said trustees by her mothers relatives, or she, herself, shall refuse to go into my said trustee's charge, then the said amount of three thousand ($3,000.00) dollars shall be the only amount she shall receive from my estate.

Florence died in 1917, leaving Doris in the care of maternal aunts. After the death of her grandfather, Doris visited her paternal grandmother every week until her grandmother died in 1924. As a teenager during the summers, Doris visited her Aunt Beulah and Aunt Rose in Virginia, spending two weeks with each. Neither Lizette nor the paternal aunts mentioned the condition in the will about Doris having to live with one of them to share in the estate. Nor did they ever ask or invite her to make her home with one of them. When Doris was nineteen she married and moved to Tampa with her first husband, Mr. Green.

The death of Lizette in 1924 triggered the first litigation concerning the construction of John Robinson's will. Doris filed a suit in 1929 to have her rights to income determined under the trust, her rights to the $3,000 bequest, and her rights to share in the estate as an heir. In Green v. Lewis, 113 Fla. 609, 151 So. 280 (1933), the Florida Supreme Court determined that Doris was entitled to receive one-third of her grandmother's share of the income from the trust during the existence of the trust by her "right of substitution."[5] Article V of the will provided that the trust would continue until twenty one years after the death of John's last surviving grandchild who was then living. All of the grandchildren (Rose Mae, John, William, Margaret, and Doris) were then living. Article IV of the will provided that the income of the trust would be paid 1/4th to Lizette, 1/8th to Beulah and 1/8th to Rose, or used proportionately for their benefits in the trustees' discretion. The Green

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
389 So. 2d 235, 11 A.L.R. 4th 927, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-green-fladistctapp-1980.