Shannon v. Shannon

680 S.W.2d 367, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4339
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 24, 1984
DocketNos. 13015, 13203 to 13206, 13274 and 13275
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 680 S.W.2d 367 (Shannon v. Shannon) 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
Shannon v. Shannon, 680 S.W.2d 367, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4339 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

FLANIGAN, Judge.

The principal adversaries in these consolidated appeals are plaintiff Doris Shannon and defendant Hugh Shannon (“Shannon”), who married each other in 1958. Three children were born of the marriage, Karen, Dena, and Phillip. Phillip, the youngest, was a minor when the instant action was filed and reached majority during its pend-ency.

In March 1978 Doris and Shannon executed a revocable living trust in which Shannon was named trustee and sole life beneficiary. In September 1978 Shannon filed Case No. 4516 in the Circuit Court of Barry County, seeking dissolution of the marriage. An entry of appearance, purportedly signed by Doris Shannon, was filed in that action. In October 1978 a decree was entered approving a property settlement agreement, signed by Doris and Shannon, and dissolving the marriage.

In September 1981 Doris Shannon filed the instant action against Shannon in the Circuit Court of Barry County, challenging the validity of the proceedings and decree in Case No. 4516 and also challenging the validity of the trust and transfers of property to the trust. The amended petition, on which the case was tried, added the three children as parties. Each child was named individually and as a beneficiary and trustee of the trust which Shannon had amended. Also added as a defendant was Shannon in his capacities as trustee and beneficiary of the trust. The two daughters defaulted. The trial court found the issues generally in favor of Doris Shannon and made a division of the property. Shannon and Phillip Shannon appeal.

As his points on appeal Shannon asserts that the trial court erred in taking the following actions: (1) setting aside the trust; (2) entering an order on October 13, 1982, striking the pleadings of Shannon in his capacity as trustee for failure to make discovery; (3) entering an order on October 15, 1982, appointing a receiver; (4) requiring Shannon to waive his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination as a condition to allowing him to testify; (5) [369]*369awarding plaintiff damages and other relief not requested in the petition; (6) granting relief to the defaulting defendants, Karen Shannon and Dena Shannon; (7) awarding plaintiff “court costs” and expenses which were not supported by evidence. As his point on appeal Phillip Shannon asserts that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial application for a continuance. These contentions, none of which is valid, will be considered in that order.

The record on appeal, which this court has scrutinized, is voluminous. The trial, which began on November 10, 1982, lasted a week and was preceded by 11 hearings. The legal file exceeds 500 pages. The transcript consists of 16 volumes. The litigation defies capsule description. The trial judge, Honorable Jack A. Powell, entered a judgment which he later extensively revised. The judgment contains findings of fact including those set forth below and prior to the discussion of appellant’s first point. None of these findings is seriously challenged and all are supported by the record.

Plaintiff Doris Shannon married defendant Shannon in 1958. Both of them were “lacking in formal education.” Doris was 17 at the time of the marriage and she had no earning capabilities beyond that of ordinary clerical work. Shannon “developed into a very capable businessman and has an understanding of money and the investment of money that few people can match.” Shannon managed a bank and “knew how to trade money investments and farms.” Between 1966, when Shannon quit maintaining an office in the home, until September 1981 when the instant lawsuit was filed, Doris “had no knowledge of Shannon’s business dealings nor knowledge about how much property, tangible and intangible, they had as marital property.” Shannon did not disclose to Doris any of his business dealings and “he kept his business decisions to himself.” Frequently Shannon would have Doris sign documents “without exposing the full document to her vision.” Doris “did not question him for two reasons, because she trusted him to do the right thing and because she was afraid of him.”

Shannon “devised a plan whereby all of their properties should be placed under his sole control. To do this Shannon had a revocable living trust agreement prepared.” The agreement, dated March 20, 1978, was executed by Shannon and Doris as grantors. They agreed to, and did, convey assets to Shannon as trustee. In the latter capacity Shannon was given total control over the trust estate and Shannon was the sole life beneficiary. Shannon, as trustee, had the power to invade the principal for Shannon's benefit. On Shannon's death Doris and two others would become successor trustees. The successor trustees were to pay any taxes or debts owed by Shannon at his death. Shannon’s living children were designated as successor beneficiaries. Shannon, as grantor and “acting alone,” was empowered to revoke the trust and to receive “as his own property” all of the trust estate. Shannon, as grant- or, could require delivery of any trust asset and Shannon, as grantor, reserved the right to modify the trust.

Although the trust was signed in the office of Shannon’s attorney, who read the agreement to Doris, “the evidence is clear that she had no comprehension of what she was executing.” The trust estate was to be described in an exhibit to be attached to the trust instrument but no such exhibit “ever surfaced.” Doris "not only did not understand the terms and conditions of the trust, but thought she had a right to participate in the decisions of the trust because she had been named as a trustee.” She became a trustee only upon the death of Shannon. The trust “was approached to her as a device to protect their children.”

Shannon “began to tell Doris that he was not doing well financially” and that he was thinking about going to Topeka, Kansas to see if he could not do better. Shannon suggested that they had not been getting along too well and it might be best if they would make a property settlement in the event one of them wanted to get divorced [370]*370later on. Doris thereupon executed, on September 8, 1978, a property settlement agreement, just as she executed all other instruments he placed before her. Apparently without realizing it she also executed “a waiver of notice in a divorce [proceeding].”

Also on September 8, 1978, without Doris’s knowledge, Shannon, as plaintiff, filed a dissolution action in Barry County although both Shannon and Doris were then residents of Greene County. On October 20, 1978, Shannon appeared with his attorney before the Circuit Court of Barry County and at that time “Shannon completely misled the court.” Shannon testified that the property settlement was fair and conscionable in light of Doris’s conduct in the past. The trust instrument was never presented to the court. Shannon testified, falsely, that he had advised Doris that she was entitled to separate counsel. Shannon “intentionally misled Doris with respect to the filing of the divorce” and Doris did not learn, until 1981, that the dissolution decree had been entered in 1978.

From the date of the 1978 decree until 1981 there was no change in the life style of the parties. Shannon continued to live in the home and sleep in the same bed with Doris. She continued to fix his meals, care for the children, and do his laundry and other household duties expected of a housewife.

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Bluebook (online)
680 S.W.2d 367, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shannon-v-shannon-moctapp-1984.