Shelby J. Kilpatrick v. Houston T. Jarvis, Jr.

234 So. 3d 430
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 27, 2017
DocketNO. 2015-CA-00739-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 234 So. 3d 430 (Shelby J. Kilpatrick v. Houston T. Jarvis, Jr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shelby J. Kilpatrick v. Houston T. Jarvis, Jr., 234 So. 3d 430 (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

GRIFFIS, P.J.,

FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. In this case, we consider the appeal and cross-appeal of the chancellor’s deci *432 sion to impose a constructive trust. Because we find that the constructive trust was properly imposed but should have.-included additional proceeds, we affirm the chancellor’s judgment in part and reverse and render in part.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Houston T, Jarvis Sr, (“Jarvis”) died on October 16, 2011. His wife predeceased him. Jarvis was survived by his three children,. Shelby J. Kilpatrick, Houston T. Jarvis Jr. (“Houston”), and William C. Jarvis (“William”).

¶ 3. On February 28, 1989, Jarvis executed a general power of attorney and named Kilpatrick as his attorney-in-fact. Then; on February 2, 2001, Jarvis executed a Last Will and Testament. In this will, Jarvis left his estate to his three children in equal; shares. Jarvis never revoked or amended his will.

¶ 4, Jarvis had a checking account at The Commercial Bank (“Commercial Bank”). He originally opéned this account with his late wife in January 1989. The checking account was 'designated a joint account with rights of survivorship. On December 2, 2004, Kilpatrick’s name was added to the checking account. Jarvis, however, did not execute a new signature card. Instead, the original signature card was amended. The name of Jarvis’s late wife was stamped with the word “DELETE,” and Kilpatrick signed the original signature card under the stamped notation. The survivorship provision on the signature card remained.

¶ 6. Vicky Sanderson, an employee of Commercial Bank, testified that, at the time of the transaction, a new signature card was not required. Instead, it was Commercial Bank’s custom and procedure to delete and add a name without the creation of a new card. When asked whether Jarvis’s presence was required for the transaction, Sanderson testified as follows:

[Jarvis] would have — he would have had to have come in and brought [Kilpatrick] in, I would have — I would think. Now, I don’t know — I mean, normally, that’s what we did. I mean, we don’t put someone on unless the owner of the account does come in to actually do that.

However, Sanderson did not recall the specific transaction. She was not able to testify that she personally witnessed or could confirm Jarvis’s presence on the day the signature card was changed.

¶ 6. Following the change of signature card, the monthly bank statements continued to be sent to Jarvis. However, the statements were issued in Jarvis’s name only. The statements never reflected any evidence of the change in title of the ownership of the bank account and never indicated a joint tenancy with Kilpatrick.

¶ 7. In June 2005, Jarvis moved in Kilpa-trick’s residence. Jarvis remained at Kilpa-trick’s home until his death.

¶ 8. On April 21, 2008, Kilpatrick opened a liquid certificate-of-deposit. account at Commercial Bank, with Jarvis as “Signer # 1” and Kilpatrick as “Signer # 2.” I,t is undisputed that Jarvis did not sign the signature card creating the account and was not present when the account was created. Instead, Kilpatrick created the account and signed on behalf of Jarvis as his attorney-in-fact.

¶ 9. Beginning in 2008, Kilpatrick, acting as Jarvis’s attorney-in-fact, closed and endorsed various certificates of- deposit owned by Jarvis at The Citizens Bank (“Citizens Bank”). Some of the certificates of deposit were designated for Houston and William. Kilpatrick transferred the funds to Jarvis’s checking account and the liquid certificate-of-deposit. account at Commercial Bank,

*433 ¶ 10. On September 27, 2011, less than one month before Jarvis’s death, Kilpa-trick withdrew $5,000 from Jarvis’s checking account and the liquid certificate-of-deposit account. As of the date of Jarvis’s death, the balance of the checking account was $33,981.10. And as of December 31, 2011, the balance of the liquid certificate-of-deposit account was $122,405.46.

¶ 11. After Jarvis’s death,' Kilpatrick, Houston, and William met at Kilpatrick’s residence. Kilpatrick advised Houston and William that there was no money to Jarvis’s estate. Kilpatrick told them that Jarvis had left her a certificate of deposit worth approximately $100,000.

¶ 12. On December 7, 2011, Kilpatrick filed a “complaint for probate of will[,3 appointment of executor” to the Chancery Court of Kemper County, Cause No. 2011-0184. The chancery court entered an order to probate the will and appointed Kilpa-trick'as executor.

¶ 13. On April 9, 2013, Houston and William filed a “complaint for accounting and other equitable relief’ in the Chancery Court of Kemper County, Cause No. 2013-0020. In this complaint, Houston and William claimed Kilpatrick had abused the confidence that was placed to her by Jarvis, and, as a result, sought the imposition of a constructive trust. These cases were subsequently consolidated.

¶ 14. After a trial, the chancellor found that although, a confidential relationship existed between Kilpatrick and Jarvis, there was no undue .influence by Kilpa-trick. The chancellor, however, found Kil-patrick’s “attempt to convince her brothers that there was nothing in her father’s estate was substantial overreaching.” As a result, the chancellor imposed a constructive trust for the use and benefit of all three children. The constructive trust included the funds in Jarvis’s checking account at the time of his death as well as the balance of the liquid certificate-of-deposit account, as of December 31, 2011. The constructive trust also included the $5,000 that was. withdrawn from both ac-. counts shortly before Jarvis’s death.

¶ 15'.’ Houston and William filed an amended motion for a new trial or amendment of judgment, which was granted to part and denied in part. From this judgment, Kilpatrick now appeals. She argues that the funds in Jarvis’s checking account and liquid certificate-of-deposit account at the time of his death belong to her and are not subject to a constructive trust as part of the estate. Houston and William cross-appeal and agree with the chancellor’s imposition of a constructive trust, but argue the constructive trust should have included additional sums of money.

ANALYSIS

I. Kilpatrick’s Appeal

¶ 16. Kilpatrick argües the chancellor' erred to imposing a constructive trust on Jarvis’s checking account and liquid certificate-of-deposit account. “A constructive trust is a fiction of equity.” Griffin v. Armana, 687 So.2d 1188, 1195 (Miss. 1996) (quoting Russell v. Douglas, 243 Miss. 497; 138 So.2d 730, 734 (1962)). The Court has defined a constructive trust as follows:

A constructive trust is one that arises by operation of law against one who, by fraud, actual or constructive, by duress or abuse of confidence, by commission of wrong, or by any form of unconscionable conduct, artifice, concealment, or questionable means, . or who to any way against equity and good conscience, either has obtained or holds the legal right to property which he ought not, in equity and good conscience, hold and enjoy.

*434

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Bluebook (online)
234 So. 3d 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shelby-j-kilpatrick-v-houston-t-jarvis-jr-missctapp-2017.