Rosenthal v. Frederick

273 So. 2d 318, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6867
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 29, 1973
DocketNo. 4023
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 273 So. 2d 318 (Rosenthal v. Frederick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosenthal v. Frederick, 273 So. 2d 318, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6867 (La. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

HOOD, Judge.

The late Sydney Pincus Kaffie died at his domicile in Natchitoches Parish on November 7, 1971, leaving a last will and testament in which he named J. Titus Frederick and P. J. Guepet as co-executors of his estate. The will and two codicils were probated, and Frederick and Guepet were appointed and qualified as co-executors. Arthur C. Watson, Esquire, was engaged by them as their attorney.

Several weeks thereafter, Arnold Jack Rosenthal, Bernie F. Rosenthal, Jr., and Hortense Edna Rothman, two nephews and a niece of the testator, filed a petition seeking to have the co-executors removed, and to have the attorney employed by them also removed. Pursuant to that petition, a rule was issued by the trial court directing Frederick, Guepet and Watson to show cause why they should not be removed as co-executors and attorney, respectively, and why plaintiffs in this proceeding should not be appointed as co-executors with William T. Skye, Esquire, as the.ir attorney.

After trial of the rule, judgment was rendered by the trial court on April 18, 1972, in favor of defendants, Frederick, Guepet, and Watson, rejecting plaintiffs’ demands and dismissing the rule with prejudice. Two of the plaintiffs, Arnold Jack Rosenthal and Bernie F. Rosenthal, Jr., have appealed from that judgment.

The issues presented on this appeal are whether Frederick and Guepet have a conflict of interest sufficient to require that they be removed as co-executors of the testator’s will, and whether Watson should be removed as attorney for the co-executors on the ground that he was engaged initially by only one of them.

The testator, Sydney Pincus Kaffie, never married and he never adopted anyone. His mother and father predeceaséd him. His two nephews and his niece, plaintiffs in the present proceeding, were his closest relatives. His estate was inventoried and appraised at $953,065.06.

He left a statutory will dated November 11, 1968, and two codicils. One of the codicils was dated June 17, 1969, and the other was dated April 2, 1970. The will and the codicils were probated and ordered executed on November 12, 1971. Shortly thereafter plaintiffs in the present proceeding instituted an action seeking to have the will and codicils annulled, but that action was later dismissed with prejudice by plaintiffs. The present action to remove Frederick and Guepet as co-executors, and [321]*321to remove Watson as their attorney, was instituted on February 14, 1972.

In his will, the testator made several special or particular legacies, and he left the remainder of his estate to the “Sydney Kaffie Trust,” which was created by that will. Frederick and Guepet were named in the will as co-executors of the testator’s estate and as co-trustees of the Sydney Kaffie Trust. The following four persons were named as income and principal beneficiaries, in equal proportions, of that trust: Arnold Jack Rosenthal, Bernie F. Rosenthal, Jr., Mrs. Hortense Edna Roth-man (plaintiffs in the present suit), and J. Titus Frederick (one of the defendants). During the five year term of the trust, the net income and $1,000.00 of the corpus was to be paid to the four beneficiaries annually-

In each of the two codicils, the testator made an additional cash bequest. In one of them he bequeathed $10,000.00 to defendant Frederick, and in the other he gave a smaller sum of money to a legatee who is not a party to this action.

Plaintiffs allege that defendants Frederick and Guepet should be removed as co-executors because of “conflicts of interest.”

The following acts, incidents or circumstances are alleged as showing a conflict of interest on the part of Frederick: (1) On July 1, 1970, the testator executed a deed conveying real property to Frederick and to the latter’s son. Plaintiffs believe that this transaction was void, either because it was a fraudulent simulation or because of lesion beyond moity, and that the co-executors should institute suit against Frederick and his son to annul that deed. (2) On October 22, 1969, the testator purportedly donated real property to Frederick. Plaintiffs believe that this donation is void because of fraud, deception and undue influence exercised by Frederick on the donor, and that suit should be instituted by the co-executors to rescind that donation. (3) For many years prior to the testator’s death, Frederick and the testator conducted numerous joint business affairs, and they continued to do so during the two year period immediately prior to Kaffie’s death, while the latter is alleged to have been senile. Plaintiffs believe that the co-executors should investigate all of these transactions to determine if fraud, deception, undue influence and misrepresentation was practiced, and that they should require an accounting by Frederick of all joint business affairs with the testator over the last 50 years. (4) Frederick has shown hostility toward plaintiffs for many years prior to the testator’s death. (5) About six months before Kaffie’s death, Frederick stated that he had burned some of the private and confidential records of the testator.

Plaintiffs allege the following circumstances as showing that defendant Guepet has a conflict of interest: (1) Guepet was the testator’s tax and financial advisor for 35 years prior to the latter’s death, and as such he worked closely with Frederick. The decedent consulted Guepet with reference to the 1970 deed to Frederick and his son and the 1969 donation to Frederick. (2) Guepet also was the tax and financial advisor to Frederick, and to one of the business enterprises entered into jointly by Frederick and Kaffie, for 35 years prior to the latter’s death. (3) Because of Guepet’s many years of close association with Frederick, plaintiffs expect him to be an adverse witness and in a position of conflict of interest in the suits which plaintiffs feel will be filed to annul the deed and the donation, and in the demand for an accounting from Frederick which plaintiffs allege will be made by the succession representatives. (4) The investigation of the business transactions between the testator and Frederick which plaintiffs will demand “may well uncover” irregularities in the decedent’s financial affairs, which “may well necessitate Guepet to take a position of an adverse and/or unfriendly witness, which would likewise place him in a conflict of interest position.” (5) Guepet has [322]*322shown hostility toward plaintiffs since the testator’s death.

Plaintiffs contend that a fiduciary relationship exists between the succession representatives, on the one hand, and the heirs of the decedent or the legatees named in the will, on the other. They point out that while a succession is under administration, the succession representatives are the proper parties to sue to enforce a right of the decedent or of his succession (LSA-C.C.P. art. 685), and that if Frederick and Guepet are allowed to remain as co-executors they could not be expected to file suit against Frederick or to be fair and impartial witnesses in the litigation which plaintiffs anticipate will be forthcoming. They argue that this conflict of interest prevents Frederick and Guepet from serving as co-executors, and that they thus should be removed.

The grounds for removing a succession representative are set out in LSA-C.C.P. art. 3182, as follows:

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Related

Sanders v. Rhodes
452 So. 2d 197 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
Succession of Mangle
452 So. 2d 197 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
Matter of Succession of Dunham
408 So. 2d 888 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Matter of Succession of Dunham
393 So. 2d 438 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Succession of Celestin
393 So. 2d 268 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Rosenthal v. Frederick
276 So. 2d 701 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
273 So. 2d 318, 1973 La. App. LEXIS 6867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenthal-v-frederick-lactapp-1973.