Nitsche v. St. Clair County State Bank

46 S.W.3d 682, 2001 Mo. App. LEXIS 1076, 2001 WL 669986
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 15, 2001
Docket23765
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 46 S.W.3d 682 (Nitsche v. St. Clair County State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nitsche v. St. Clair County State Bank, 46 S.W.3d 682, 2001 Mo. App. LEXIS 1076, 2001 WL 669986 (Mo. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

PARRISH, Judge.

Myrle Linn Nitsche, Myrle Linn Nitsche, Jr., Kevin Lee Nitsche, Carla Kay Keough and Brent Allen Nitsche (collectively referred to as petitioners) appeal a judgment of the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of St. Clair County. The judgment denied petitioners’ request to terminate a testamentary trust established by the will of Mabel R. Nitsche. This court affirms.

Appellate review of a judge-tried case is undertaken on the basis that a trial court’s judgment will be affirmed unless there was no substantial evidence to support it, it was against the weight of the evidence, or the trial court erroneously declared or applied the law. Pierce v. State, Dept. of Social Services, 969 S.W.2d 814, 817 (Mo.App.1998). The judgment is to be affirmed on any reasonable theory the record on appeal supports. Id.

The only record filed with this court is the legal file. The judgment in that legal file acknowledges the appearance of petitioners by their attorney and the presence of the other party to the litigation, St. Clair County State Bank (the trustee), by its attorney. 1 It acknowledges the appointment of a guardian ad litem for “unborn, unknown and/or unascer-tained beneficiaries.” The judgment declares, “[Petitioners] and Trustee agreed orally and in open court to submit the issues fi*amed by the pleadings herein to the Court for decision based upon said pleadings and suggestions to be filed by each at a later date.” It states, “Guardian Ad Litem [Michael C.] Dawson declines the opportunity to file suggestions. The Court took all issues under advisement pending receipt and review of Suggestions.” The judgment states this occurred March 28, 2000.

Docket entries, copies of which are included in the legal file, disclose that suggestions were filed by the attorney for petitioners April 13, 2000, and suggestions by the attorney for the trustee April 27, *684 2000. 2 The trial court rendered judgment June 8, 2000. It found that protected beneficiaries included “the son, grandchildren and great grandchildren (if any) of Mabel Nitsche (testator).” The trial court denied petitioners’ request to terminate the trust at an earlier time than was specified by its terms.

The trial court awarded “a reasonable attorney’s fee” of $650 to the trustee. Petitioners were ordered to pay that award. The order awarding attorney fees was entered June 13, 2000.

A copy of the will that established the testamentary trust is not attached to, or otherwise quoted in, the pleading on which this case was submitted to the trial court. No copy of the trust that is the subject of this appeal is included in the record on appeal. A copy of a will is included as an appendix to petitioners’ opening brief. The brief states it is the will that established the trust. The trustee’s brief refers to the document that is copied in the appendix to petitioners’ brief as the will that established the trust and quotes from it.

“Documents attached to a party’s brief but not contained in the legal file are not part of the record and will not be considered on appeal.” Meyers v. Southern Builders, Inc., 7 S.W.3d 507, 512 n. 6 (Mo.App.1999). Nevertheless, a statement of fact asserted in one party’s brief and conceded as true in the opposing party’s brief may be considered as though it appeal's in the record. Robinson v. Empiregas, Inc. of Hartville, 906 S.W.2d 829, 835 n. 6 (Mo.App.1995). This court considers the trustee’s reference to the will (and trust provisions therein) as a concession of the document’s accuracy.

The trust identified Myrle Linn Nitsche as the “income-beneficiary.” The terms of the trust require the trustee to pay the income-beneficiary the income of the trust “for and during the term of his natural life.” The trust provides:

After the death of the income-beneficiary, then the remaining trust estate, including both the principal and accumulated interest of said trust estate, shall be distributed in equal shares to the natural children of the income-beneficiary. That if any of the natural children of the income-beneficiary shall have predeceased the income-beneficiary with issue surviving, then the issue of the deceased child shall represent the parent per stirpes and take the deceased parent’s share. If any child of the income-beneficiary shall predecease the income-beneficiary without issue or lineal descendants surviving, then the share of the deceased child shall drop out, thereby increasing the share of the other children, or their living descendants, of the income-beneficiary....

Paragraph 4 of the petition filed in the trial court alleged, “Myrle Linn Nitsche, Jr., Kevin Lee Nitsche, Carla Kay Keough, and Brent Allen Nitsche are all of the natural children of Myrle Linn Nitsche.” A copy of a document titled, “Consent to Termination of Trust,” signed by Myrle Linn Nitsche, Jr., Kevin Lee Nitsche, Carla Kay Keough and Brent Allen Nitsche is included in the legal file. Paragraph 6 of the petition asserts, “Because of the cost of administration and the low yield being earned on trust assets, and because of the desires of all of the adult beneficiaries of the trust to benefit Myrle Lynn Nitsche, all remainder beneficiaries have consented to the termination of the trust in the form *685 attached hereto, executed by all of the children of Myrle Linn Nitsche.” The amended answer of the trustee admits paragraph 4 but denies paragraph 6.

No hearing was held before the trial court. Although “the issues framed by the pleadings” were submitted for determination “upon said pleadings and suggestions,” pleadings are not self-proving. Dement v. Barton County Mut. Ins. Co., 945 S.W.2d 606, 608 (Mo.App.1997); Danner v. Director of Revenue, 919 S.W.2d 285, 287 (Mo.App.1996). Nevertheless, admission in an answer of an allegation in the opposing party’s petition concedes, for the purpose of the litigation, that the allegation is true. In re Marriage of Maupin, 829 S.W.2d 125, 127 (Mo.App.1992).

The findings of the trial court include:

1. Section 456.590.2 R.S.Mo.[ 3 ] is applicable to the issues raised by the parties hereto. This section permits a Court to vary the terms of a private trust, to include early termination of the trust as requested by [Petitioners] in the instant case, upon petition of all the adult beneficiaries who are not disabled, “upon finding that such variation will benefit the disabled minor unborn and unascertained beneficiaries.”
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Bluebook (online)
46 S.W.3d 682, 2001 Mo. App. LEXIS 1076, 2001 WL 669986, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nitsche-v-st-clair-county-state-bank-moctapp-2001.