SouthTrust Bank of Alabama, N.A. v. Winter

689 So. 2d 69, 1996 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 269, 1996 WL 173531
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 12, 1996
Docket2941178
StatusPublished

This text of 689 So. 2d 69 (SouthTrust Bank of Alabama, N.A. v. Winter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SouthTrust Bank of Alabama, N.A. v. Winter, 689 So. 2d 69, 1996 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 269, 1996 WL 173531 (Ala. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

CRAWLEY, Judge.

Marcia Lee Baldwin Winter (“Winter”) filed a will contest, alleging that the decedent, Marcella Baldwin (“Baldwin”), lacked the requisite mental capacity to execute a will and had been unduly influenced in the execution of her will and a subsequent codicil. SouthTrust Bank, the executor (“the Bank”), filed a motion for summary judgment. In response to the Bank’s motion, Winter alleged that the will had been revoked. The trial court denied the Bank’s motion for summary judgment. After a non-jury trial, the court found that Baldwin had revoked her will. The trial court considered this finding dispositive and, therefore, did not reach the questions of mental capacity and undue influence. This case is before this court pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-7(6).

The Bank raises three issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in finding that Baldwin had revoked her will by placing it in a sack with other personal papers; (2) whether the trial court should have determined whether Baldwin had testamentary capacity at the time of the execution of her will and codicil; and (3) whether the trial court should have found that Baldwin was not unduly influenced when she executed her will and codicil.

Baldwin died on January 3, 1992, at the age of 89. She was survived by her adopted [70]*70daughter, Winter, who lived in Oregon with her family. Baldwin had lived alone in her home since her husband’s death in 1968. According to the testimony, Baldwin and Winter’s relationship was tenuous, at best, most of their lives. Baldwin visited Winter on several occasions until on one visit Winter’s husband told Baldwin she had outstayed her welcome. Baldwin was very angry and never traveled to Oregon to visit Winter again. Winter did visit with Baldwin several times between that visit and her mother’s death in 1992. Winter’s children did not visit Baldwin except on one occasion when Winter, accompanied by her 15-year-old son, visited Baldwin. Baldwin had requested that Winter send her daughter to live with Baldwin and attend school in Alabama, but Winter refused this request.

Several of the witnesses described Baldwin as “manipulative.” These witnesses also testified that Baldwin would tell people she intended to leave them something in her will in exchange for these person’s performing some service for Baldwin. These witnesses also acknowledged that although Baldwin was manipulative, she could not be manipulated.

Baldwin’s grandnieces, Andrea and Susie Brown, testified at the trial. Both nieces had fond memories of Baldwin and related a visit they had with Baldwin in the spring of 1975. They visited Baldwin at her home in Birmingham for two weeks. They testified that Baldwin was like a grandmother to them. Both nieces corresponded with Baldwin, one more frequently than the other. While they were visiting with Baldwin, Baldwin inquired what items of Baldwin’s property they might want upon Baldwin’s death. Andrea commented that she loved Baldwin’s house.

On September 23, 1975, Baldwin executed her will. Paul Woodall prepared the will and witnessed its execution. The will left three-fourths of the residuary estate to Winter and her family. The remaining one-fourth of the residuary was left to the Industrial Design Laboratory of Auburn University. Baldwin’s residence was bequeathed to Herbert Darnell for one year and then to Andrea and Susie Brown. The will also provided for specific bequests of personalty to certain of Baldwin’s friends.

In 1980, Baldwin executed a codicil, which was prepared and witnessed by Anne Mitchell. Mitchell testified at trial that she discussed the terms of both the will and the codicil with Baldwin at the time the codicil was executed. Mitchell stated that Baldwin had reasons for every disposition of property that she made. Mitchell also testified that she had no doubts regarding Baldwin’s testamentary capacity. Mitchell testified that the codicil provided that Andrea and Susie Brown were to receive Baldwin’s home immediately upon Baldwin’s death. Pursuant to the codicil, Winter and her family received three-fourths of the residuary, with the remaining one-fourth to go to Lindenwood College in Missouri.

Baldwin’s will was not located until several days following her death. Roberta Harkins testified at trial that she found the will while she was organizing and appraising items in Baldwin’s estate for the county administrator. The will and codicil were located in a paper sack in a hallway closet area that Baldwin referred to as “trash alley.”

Felix Yarboro, the director of community ministries at Independent Presbyterian Church, testified at trial that he began visiting Baldwin and assisting her in her personal affairs in 1989. Yarboro testified that Baldwin told him that she did not intend for her grandnieces to receive the house, but that she had bequeathed the house to them to make Marcia (Winter) mad. Yarboro also testified that Baldwin told him that she had “thrown away” her will and that she needed a new one. She provided Yarboro with a handwritten list of her property and specific bequests of personalty. Yarboro then typed the list and mailed it to an attorney, Vernon Patrick. Baldwin, however, never got a new will drafted and signed. With regard to the “trash alley,” Yarboro stated that most of the items in there were to be discarded. Yar-boro disposed of only the papers Baldwin instructed him to discard. Yarboro testified that two sacks remained in the “trash alley” the entire time he assisted Baldwin with her personal affairs.

[71]*71Mattie Ruth Rucker, Baldwin’s housekeeper for almost 20 years, testified that Baldwin told her quite a few years ago that Baldwin’s will was in a basket next to her bed. Rucker testified that she never knew if Baldwin moved the will from the basket to another location.

Percy Lewis, Baldwin’s yardman, testified that Baldwin also indicated to him that she intended to leave everything to Marcia (Winter). Lewis stated that he understood Baldwin to mean that she wanted Winter to come live with her and help her with her affairs and then she would give everything to Winter. Baldwin always told Lewis that he was mentioned in her will; however, Baldwin made no specific bequest to Lewis in her will.

Following the presentation of all the evidence, the trial court determined that Baldwin had revoked her will because, it found, she effectively canceled the will and took steps toward making a new will. The trial court held that the act of placing the will in the “trash alley” was an act of “cancellation” or “abandonment,” as those words are defined in Black’s Law Dictionary. The trial court found that Baldwin abandoned her will by placing it in the trash and taking steps toward making a new will. The trial court further found that the evidence clearly supported a finding that Baldwin intended to revoke the will and codicil and to make new provisions for the disposition of her property. We must determine if the trial court correctly concluded that, as a matter of law, the placement of the will in a paper sack located in an area referred to as a “trash alley” constituted an act of revocation. We conclude that the court erred.

‘Where evidence is presented to the trial court ore tenus, the court’s findings of fact based on that evidence are presumed correct and those findings will not be disturbed on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous, without supporting evidence, manifestly unjust, or against the great weight of the evidence.” Jasper City Council v. Woods, 647 So.2d 723, 726 (Ala.1994).

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Bluebook (online)
689 So. 2d 69, 1996 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 269, 1996 WL 173531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southtrust-bank-of-alabama-na-v-winter-alacivapp-1996.