Whatley v. Unopened Succession of Smart

174 So. 3d 1273, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1718, 2015 WL 5438693
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 16, 2015
DocketNo. 49,999-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 174 So. 3d 1273 (Whatley v. Unopened Succession of Smart) 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
Whatley v. Unopened Succession of Smart, 174 So. 3d 1273, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1718, 2015 WL 5438693 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, J.

LThe plaintiff, Stella Whatley, adminis-tratrix of the ancillary succession of Margaret Smart, appeals a judgment in favor of the intervenors, William Smart and James Smart, dismissing her claims and cancelling the notice of lis pendens. The district court also denied the plaintiffs exceptions of no right and no cause of action and her motion for partial summary judgment. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

In December 1967, Samuel Smart died testate in Louisiana. The decedent was survived by his wife, Iva Smart, and their two children, James Smart and Sam Smart. After proceedings in Samuel Smart’s succession, a judgment of possession rendered in 1968 conveyed to James and Sam Smart a one-half interest each in their father’s separate property, which included a 58-acre tract of land (“tract A”) located in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. Regarding the estate’s community property, the judgment conveyed a one-half interest to Iva Smart and a one-fourth interest each to James and Sam Smart. The community property included a 160-acre tract of land (“tract B”) in Lincoln Parish. After Iva Smart died in 1983, James Smart and Sam Smart each acquired a separate one-half interest in her estate. As a result, James and Sam each inherited as separate property a one-half ownership interest in tracts A and B. James was domiciled in Alabama when he inherited this immovable property.

In June 2010, James Smart died intestate while domiciled in Alabama. He was survived by his wife, Margaret Smart, and they did not have any children. James Smart’s closest surviving relatives were his two nephews, [2William Smart and James Smart, the children of his predeceased brother, Sam. Under Alabama law, when James Smart died without a will, his surviving spouse, Margaret, inherited all of his property in Alabama. No ancillary succession was opened for the estate of James Smart in Louisiana.

In 2011, Margaret Smart died intestate in Alabama. She was survived by her siblings, including Stella Whatley, who was appointed by an Alabama court as the administratrix of her sister’s Alabama estate. Whatley then opened an ancillary succession for Margaret in Lincoln Parish, [1275]*1275Louisiana, where tracts A and B are located. Whatley was appointed administratrix of her sister’s ancillary succession.

In December 2012, the plaintiff, Stella Wfiiatley, as administratrix of the ancillary succession, filed a “Petition for Value of Immovable Property Due Under Civil Code Article 3527,” naming as defendants the unopened successions of Iva Smart and James Smart. The petition alleges that tracts A and B are subject to the right of Margaret Smart’s estate to recover the value of James Smart’s ownership interest in the immovable property at the time of his death in Alabama. The plaintiff also filed a notice of lis pendens in the mortgage records of Lincoln Parish to notify third parties of the lawsuit. Plaintiff requested the appointment of a representative of the unopened successions. The district court appointed attorney Ryan Madden as representative.

In May 2013, William Smart and James Smart intervened as owners of the tracts of land at issue in the petition. The inter-venors filed an answer and a reconventional demand alleging that the notice of lis pendens was I.Jmproper. They also filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that any claim of Margaret Smart to James Smart’s property was extinguished by the doctrine of confusion. The plaintiff then filed an opposition to summary judgment, exceptions of no right and no cause of action against the intervenors’ demand and a motion for partial summary judgment as to the claim under LSA-C.C. art. 3527. The intervenors filed an exception of no cause of action.

At the hearing on the pleadings, the representative of the unopened successions adopted the arguments of the intervenors. In its written ruling, the district court treated the intervenors’ exception as an exception of no right of action based on their allegation that a claim under Article 3527 is a personal right that is not heritable. The court found that any cause of action created by Article 3527 is personal to the surviving spouse so that when Margaret died, that claim could not be asserted by her heirs. The court also found that the notice of lis pendens filed by plaintiff was improper. Thus, the court rendered judgment dismissing the plaintiffs petition and canceling the notice of lis pendens. The plaintiff appeals the judgment.

DISCUSSION

The plaintiff contends the trial court erred in granting the intervenors’ exception of no right of action and dismissing her petition. Plaintiff argues that the court misconstrued Article 3527 because that article is primarily a choice of law provision which does not create a cause of action.

LSA-C.C. art. 3527 provides: .

Upon the death of a spouse domiciled outside this state, that spouse’s immov-ables situated in this state and acquired by |4that spouse while domiciled outside this state, which are not community property under the law of this state, are subject to the same rights, in value only, in favor of the surviving spouse as provided by the law of the domicile of the deceased at the time of death.

Article 3527 is an exception to the general rule that Louisiana law will govern the rights and obligations of spouses with regard to immovables situated in this state. LSA-C.C. art. 3524. Pursuant to Article 3527, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive the monetary value of any rights that would have been provided by the law of the state in which the acquiring spouse was domiciled at the time of death. See Dian Tooley-Knoblett, A Step By Step Guide to Louisiana’s Choice of Law Provisions on Marital Property, 52 Loy. L. Rev. 759, 786-87 (2006).

[1276]*1276In the present case, the plaintiffs contention in her appellate brief that Article 3527 does not provide a cause of action contradicts her original petition, which asserts a claim for the value of the decedent’s ownership interest in Louisiana land on the basis of Article 3527. In her brief, the plaintiff asserts that Article 3527 is primarily a choice of law provision that gives the court instruction as to which state’s law should apply. However, as the trial court noted, the nature of the action provided by Article 3527 must be considered.

The plaintiff further contends the trial court erred in determining the meaning of the phrase “in value only” as used in the article. Plaintiff argues that the phrase should not be seen as a limit to applying Alabama law because the situation in this case involves a property interest that is recognized in Louisiana.

IfiAs noted above, Article 3527 provides that when a spouse dies while domiciled outside Louisiana owning separate immovable property in this state that was acquired while domiciled in another state, the immovable is subject to “the same rights, in value only,” in favor of the surviving spouse as provided by the law of the domicile of the deceased at the time of death. Article 3527, comment (c) states that the phrase “in value only” has the same meaning as in LSA-C.C. art. 3526. Article 3526, comment (h) provides that the phrase “in value only” is used to avoid the situation where the law of the domicile at the time of acquisition grants to the nonacquiring spouse a property interest that Louisiana law does not recognize.

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Bluebook (online)
174 So. 3d 1273, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1718, 2015 WL 5438693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whatley-v-unopened-succession-of-smart-lactapp-2015.