Sanders v. Pierce

979 S.W.2d 457, 1998 Ky. App. LEXIS 54, 1998 WL 353752
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJuly 2, 1998
DocketNo. 97-CA-0453-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 979 S.W.2d 457 (Sanders v. Pierce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sanders v. Pierce, 979 S.W.2d 457, 1998 Ky. App. LEXIS 54, 1998 WL 353752 (Ky. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

DYCHE, Judge.

Marcella Sanders appeals from an order of the Trigg Circuit Court denying her motion for partial summary judgment, and granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment. Although appellant has listed several grounds for appeal, the real questions at issue are whether Marcella Sanders received any property under the holographic will made by her husband, Murl Sanders, Jr., or, if not, whether she made a timely renunciation of the will.

Murl Sanders, Jr. (Sanders), died on April 7, 1991, and was survived by his wife, Marcella Sanders, and three children, Bruce Sanders, Janice Sanders Boyd, and Cindy Sanders Laxton. Two wills were admitted to probate on April 16, 1991. The first, dated November 29, 1988, left Sanders’s entire estate to Marcella and the three children. The second, a holographic will dated November 7, 1989, reads in its entirety:

This letter takes precedence over all other written matter. I wish to leave my estate as follows.
Bruce Sanders to receive what is known as White Farm. Janice Sanders Boyd to receive $400,000 in cash. Cindy Sanders Laxton to receive $400,000 in cash. Bal to be equally divided among Bruce, Janice, and Cindy after Marcella’s death.
/s/ Murl Sanders Jr.

The White Farm mentioned in the will had already been conveyed to Bruce Sanders on November 7, 1989. The deed was recorded on April 3,1991.1

The 1991 order probating tho wills also appointed as executor of the estate Michael Pierce, a certified public accountant who had handled the family’s finances for a long period of time. In 1992, Pierce requested the legal opinion of H.B. Quinn, counsel for the estate, as to the validity of the wills entered into probate. Quinn advised that the second will was valid, and that it revoked the first will. Upon motion of the administrator of the estate, the Trigg District Court entered an order on April 16, 1993, confirming that the latter will should have been the only one admitted to probate, and stating that by its terms the 1989 will revoked the 1988 will.

Bruce Sanders had held power of attorney for Marcella Sanders for some time prior to September, 1993, although the record is unclear ábout precisely how long he had served in that capacity. Nevertheless, on September 23, 1993, Marcella made Michael Pierce her attorney-in-fact. The power of attorney was prepared by Marcella’s attorney at that time, Rick Lamkin. Shortly thereafter, in October, 1993, her children became concerned about their mother’s emotional well-being, and filed a petition in Trigg District Court for the involuntary hospitalization of Marcella Sanders. She was briefly hospitalized, released to home nursing care for some time, and underwent a court-ordered outpatient mental evaluation. The petition was dismissed on March 21, 1995. By agreed order on the same date, Michael Pierce was named to continue to serve under a limited power of attorney, assisting Marcella with her financial affairs.

In August, 1995, appellant filed the first formal renunciation of the will originally probated in 1991, and clarified as valid in the 1993 order. This action was commenced in October, 1995, and amended in September, 1996, with four main objectives: (1) to establish appellant’s dower rights in the White farm; (2) to receive an accounting from the [459]*459children of all property transferred to them by Murl Sanders from 1988 until his death; (3) to assert a claim of fraud against dower, claiming that Murl Sanders transferred property and personal assets to the children; and (4) to require that the executor of the estate pay appellant the spousal exemption as provided in Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 391.030. After submitting pleadings, supporting memoranda, and affidavits, both parties filed motions for summary judgment. Summary judgment was granted to appellees on January 10, 1997. This appeal followed.

Summary judgment is proper where the “pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, stipulations, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR) 56.03. A party opposing a properly supported summary judgment motion must present at least some affirmative evidence of a genuine issue of material fact in order to defeat the motion. Steelvest, Inc. v. Scansteel Service Center, Inc., Ky., 807 S.W.2d 476, 482 (1991).

As previously stated, the central questions to this appeal are whether appellant received anything under the will entered into probate, and, if not, whether appellant made a timely renunciation of the will. The letter of H.B. Quinn and the affidavits filed in the record by appellees illuminate these issues. Quinn stated that the final sentence of Murl Sanders’s will, dividing the balance of the estate among the children after appellant’s death, “implies that there should be a trust for Marcella.” Additionally, the uncontroverted affidavits of Bruce Sanders and Janice Sanders Boyd indicate that appellant received property under the will, namely, household property, an automobile, and all non-liquid assets of the estate. It is clear that appellant received property under the will.

The two applicable statutes are KRS 392.020 and KRS 392.080. KRS 392.080(1) states, in pertinent part:

When a husband or wife dies testate, the surviving spouse may, though under full age, release what is given to him or her by will, if any, and receive his or her share under KRS 392.020 as if no will had been made.... Such relinquishment shall be made within six (6) months after the probate ....

KRS 392.020 defines the extent of the dower interest in both real estate and personalty for the surviving spouse should a husband or wife die intestate. In order to assert her rights under KRS 392.020, however, appellant must have renounced the will according to the terms of KRS 392.080. The Supreme Court stated in Hannah v. Hannah, Ky., 824 S.W.2d 866, 868 (1992), that:

[i]f the widow is not satisfied with the will provisions, she can elect to seek her statutory remedy. But the plain language of the statute makes clear that she cannot have both.

Because no evidence in the record contradicts the statements of Mi’. Quinn, Bruce Sanders, and Janice Boyd Sanders that appellant received and took property under the will, the trial court did not err in awarding summary judgment to appellees.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

White v. Commonwealth
32 S.W.3d 83 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
979 S.W.2d 457, 1998 Ky. App. LEXIS 54, 1998 WL 353752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanders-v-pierce-kyctapp-1998.