Nelson v. Estate of Nelson

53 So. 3d 922, 87 A.L.R. 6th 781, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 34, 2010 WL 336996
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 29, 2010
Docket2080989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 53 So. 3d 922 (Nelson v. Estate of Nelson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nelson v. Estate of Nelson, 53 So. 3d 922, 87 A.L.R. 6th 781, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 34, 2010 WL 336996 (Ala. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

MOORE, Judge.

Sarah Nelson (“Sarah”) appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of the estate of Wiley Nelson, Jr. (“the estate”). We affirm.

Procedural Background

This is the second time these parties have been before us. See Nelson v. Estate of Nelson, 10 So.3d 603 (Ala.Civ.App.2008). In Nelson, we stated the following:

“Sarah Nelson (‘the widow’), the widow of Wiley Nelson, Jr. (‘the decedent’), appeals a judgment as a matter of law entered in favor of Albert Foster, Jr., and Jacques Marsh, the decedent’s nephews. We dismiss the appeal.
“On July 13, 2007, the widow filed a petition to remove the administration of the estate of the decedent from the Montgomery Probate Court to the Montgomery Circuit Court, pursuant to § 12-11-41, Ala.Code 1975. Although the circuit court did not enter an order removing the administration of the estate from the probate court, on December 18, 2007, the widow gave notice to the circuit court that she was dissenting from the will and was claiming a ‘spouse’s share.’ On January 22, 2008, Foster and Marsh filed a motion in the circuit court seeking a judgment declaring the validity of a postnuptial agreement that had been entered between the widow and the decedent. They also sought a determination of the validity of an inter vivos transfer of certain property from the decedent to Foster and Marsh. On February 7, 2008, the widow requested a trial by jury.
“The case was called for trial in the circuit court on March 31, 2008, and, at the conclusion of the presentation of Foster and Marsh’s evidence, the circuit court entered a judgment as a matter of law in favor of Foster and Marsh and ‘dismissed [the case,] with prejudice.’ The widow timely filed her notice of appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court; that court transferred the appeal to this [924]*924court, pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-7(6).”

10 So.3d at 604-05 (footnote omitted). Because the circuit court had failed to remove the matter from the probate court to the circuit court, we concluded that the judgment entered by the circuit court was void for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Because a void judgment will not support an appeal, we dismissed Sarah’s appeal. Id. at 605.

After the dismissal of Sarah’s appeal, the circuit court ordered the proceeding regarding the administration of the estate removed from probate court to the circuit court. The estate then moved for a summary judgment, asserting that the post-nuptial agreement entered into by Sarah and Wiley Nelson, Jr. (“Wiley”), approximately eight months after they married was valid. In support of that motion, the estate submitted a copy of the postnuptial agreement, purportedly executed by Sarah and Wiley on April 13, 1985; an affidavit from Wayne Sabel, the attorney who had drafted the postnuptial agreement and who had purportedly witnessed Sarah and Wiley execute the agreement; copies of two notification forms in which Sarah acknowledged that Wiley had not named her as a beneficiary of the survivor benefits available under his retirement plan; a copy of Wiley’s last will and testament in which he omitted Sarah as a beneficiary because, he indicated, of the postnuptial agreement; an affidavit from Jim Wilson, Jr,, the attorney who had drafted Wiley’s last will and testament; and a copy of the August 27, 2003, warranty deed by which Wiley had conveyed Sarah and Wiley’s marital home to his nephews, Albert Foster, Jr., and Jacques Marsh. The estate indicated that it was also submitting to the circuit court a copy of a “Response to Notice of Eviction Action,” but no such document was included in the record on appeal.1

Sarah opposed the estate’s summary-judgment motion. In her brief filed in opposition to that motion, she denied any recollection of signing the postnuptial agreement and she challenged the validity of the attorney’s notarization of the post-nuptial agreement because he had failed to maintain a notary register of his official acts, as required by Ala.Code 1975, § 36-20-7. She also argued that, if her signature was deemed valid on the postnuptial agreement, then the postnuptial agreement was not fair, just, and equitable from her point of view; Sarah asserted that the consideration recited in the postnuptial agreement was insufficient to support that agreement. Further, Sarah denied having had full knowledge of Wiley’s estate or knowledge of the estate’s full value, and she denied receiving independent legal advice at the time the alleged postnuptial agreement had been signed. In support of her opposition, Sarah submitted as an exhibit the transcript of the March 31, 2008, trial held before the circuit court. The estate raised no objection to the admissibility of that exhibit.2

On June 23, 2009, after hearing arguments on the motion, the circuit court entered a summary judgment in favor of the estate.3 Sarah timely appealed to the Ala[925]*925bama Supreme Court, challenging whether the estate had met its burden of proof; the appeal was transferred to this court, pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-7(6).

Factual and Evidentiary Background

The evidence before the circuit court established the following. Sarah holds a master’s degree and is retired from the Alabama Department of Education. At the time of the March 2008 trial, she was receiving retirement benefits and Social Security benefits and she was participating in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan for state employees.

Sarah and Wiley married on July 31, 1984, and Sarah gave birth to their child shortly thereafter. At the time of the marriage, Sarah owned real property located at 914 Hill Street and Wiley owned real property located at 2300 Chappell Drive. The property owned by Sarah was located virtually next door to the property owned by Wiley.

The postnuptial agreement at issue in this case was purportedly executed on April 13, 1985. That agreement provided, in pertinent part:

“2. Husband and wife desire to define their respective rights in property acquired before and after, marriage.
“3. Husband and wife desire to define their marital property rights.
“4. Both husband and wife had in his or her own right certain real and personal property at the time of their marriage.
“5. Before their marriage to each other and in consideration thereof, husband and wife agreed verbally with each other that none of their respective property rights should in any way become affected or changed in any way by reason of their marriage.
“6. Both husband and wife consider themselves independent of the other from a financial perspective, and wish to protect the interest of their respective children born as a result of prior marriages with other persons.
“7. This instrument was entered into orally prior to the marriage of the parties, and is now reduced to writing in order to comply with the laws in such cases made and provided, and in order that there may be no misunderstanding of the terms and conditions of the contract property settlement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 So. 3d 922, 87 A.L.R. 6th 781, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 34, 2010 WL 336996, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-estate-of-nelson-alacivapp-2010.