Mayfield v. Peek

546 S.W.3d 253
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 28, 2017
DocketNo. 08–15–00018–CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 546 S.W.3d 253 (Mayfield v. Peek) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mayfield v. Peek, 546 S.W.3d 253 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Chief Justice

At its core, this case involves two siblings fighting over an inheritance from their parents. The two principal issues before us are not so much the merits of the dispute, but whether one sibling has standing to complain of the other's actions, and in what court this fight should take place. Appellant Linda Mayfield claimed in part that her brother, Appellee Gary Bruce Peek, (Bruce)1 prevailed upon their mother to remove assets from a revocable trust at a time when their mother allegedly lacked the mental capacity to do so. Bruce convinced the district court below that Mayfield lacked standing to make that claim. He also claimed that another court should hear that sort of claim, because by the time of this suit, his mother had passed away and her will was in probate. We conclude that: (a) Mayfield has standing to challenge the trust transaction at issue; (b) the trial court was never presented with a proper basis establishing that another court had acquired dominant jurisdiction over the trust issue raised here; (c) the district court would have properly declined to hear matters exclusive to a guardianship proceeding or a will contest; and (d) that it was an abuse of discretion *256to summarily exclude all of the evidence pertinent to a pleaded cause of action (based on a perceived lack of subject matter jurisdiction) and then to make findings on the merits of that claim. We accordingly reverse in part the judgment below.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Russell and Dorothy Peek were the parents of Mayfield and Bruce. During their lifetime, Russell and Dorothy set up the Peek Family Revocable Trust (2000), a revocable trust that would benefit Bruce, Mayfield, and several other relatives.2 Several real properties and other assets were placed in the trust. The trust was to become irrevocable on the death of either Russell or Dorothy. Russell and Dorothy were trustees until January 2010 at which time Mayfield's daughter, Lannie Latshaw, and Bruce were appointed as trustees. Latshaw was asked to resign as trustee in October 2012.

By the time Dorothy and Russell were in their nineties, the record reflects significant family discord. Bruce and Mayfield, though brother and sister, had not spoken to one another in thirty years. Several family members claimed that Dorothy and Bruce had restricted access to Russell, who at times was in an assisted living center, and at times lived in a house that Bruce had built right next to his own residence. For the time Russell was in the assisted living center, the facility excluded visits from most family members, and disallowed Russell access to a phone.3 A locked gate restricts access to Bruce's property. Some family members called the police and adult protective services, questioning whether Russell was being held against his will. Conversely, Dorothy alleged that a disinherited relative had made death threats against her, and others were taking advantage of Russell's diminished mental capacity for financial gain.

In 2011, Dorothy was appointed as guardian of Russell. After her death on November 20, 2012, Bruce was appointed Russell's guardian. Russell passed away on May 12, 2014.

PROCEDURAL SUMMARY

The suit before us was first filed on April 20, 2012, by Dorothy against her niece, Michael Belinda Presswood, and her granddaughter, Regina Dill Peek. After Dorothy passed away, Bruce was named independent executor to her estate and continued the lawsuit in both his representative and individual capacity. The last live petition, which added Mayfield as a defendant, asserted claims of libel, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. These claims largely arose out of the defendants' alleged calls to the authorities expressing concern for how Russell was being treated by Dorothy, and later by Bruce.

All of the defendants filed counterclaims against Bruce alleging three claims germane to this appeal, which we categorize as the Trust Claim, the Guardianship Claim, and the Will Claim:

• Bruce, as trustee of The Peek Family Revocable Living Trust (2000), violated his fiduciary duties to the *257trust's beneficiaries by using undue influence over Russell and Dorothy to amend and ultimately terminate the trust, to remove all other beneficiaries except for himself and to transfer all of the trust property to another trust. The suit alleges this as a violation of his duties as trustee (the 'Trust Claim').
• Mayfield asserts that Bruce and a non-party attorney applied to make Dorothy guardian of Russell knowing she was not qualified or capable, or alternatively, they learned that while she was guardian, and took advantage of the situation to take for themselves trust and estate assets. Mayfield also makes a similar claim against Bruce in his capacity as guardian of Russell's person (the 'Guardianship Claim').
• Bruce participated in a joint enterprise with a non-party attorney to use undue influence over Dorothy to change her will to disinherit Mayfield (the 'Will Claim').4

Mayfield sought an accounting from the original trust, and the later trust that Bruce set up, along with restitution of financial gains to Bruce and return of any property removed. The suit also sought removal of Bruce as trustee, and appointment of a successor trustee and receiver to take possession of the trust assets.

The case was set for a non-jury trial. On the first day of trial, Bruce filed a "Motion in Limine, Supplemental Motion to Strike and Motion for Proof." That motion first claimed that a contingent or remainder beneficiary of a revocable trust has no vested interest in the trust property, such that Mayfield lacked standing to complain of Dorothy's transfer of assets as the settlor of the trust. The motion secondarily claimed that Mayfield failed to properly notify all the beneficiaries of the proceeding, which acts as a bar under the Property Code. As the parties argued the merits of the motion, Bruce also claimed that the trust, guardianship, and will issues belonged in either the court that probated Dorothy's will, or the guardianship proceeding that had been set up for Russell.

The trial court granted the motion with respect to the standing issue, and denied it as to the notice issue. As a result, the trial court consistently denied the admission of any evidence pertaining to the mental condition of Dorothy, and excluded evidence regarding the trust, including the trust document itself, and any specific trust transactions, including the alleged removal of assets from one trust and the creation of another. The trial court also disallowed a bill of exceptions by Mayfield as to the excluded questions on these topics.5

*258At the conclusion of the trial, the court denied the relief that both parties had sought. It ruled against Bruce's libel, slander, and intentional infliction claims, and denied all relief to Mayfield. The trial court issued findings of fact and conclusion of law that outline each of Mayfield's pleaded theories, set out the elements of each claim, and then made findings of fact and conclusions of law for each. As to Mayfield's Trust Claim, the trial court found:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
546 S.W.3d 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayfield-v-peek-texapp-2017.