Wood v. Lowery

238 S.W.3d 747, 2007 Tenn. App. LEXIS 119, 2007 WL 674648
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 6, 2007
DocketW2006-00901-COA-R3-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 238 S.W.3d 747 (Wood v. Lowery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wood v. Lowery, 238 S.W.3d 747, 2007 Tenn. App. LEXIS 119, 2007 WL 674648 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

W. FRANK CRAWFORD, P.J., W.S.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which DAVID R. FARMER, J. joined and HOLLY M. KIRBY, J., concurs separately.

Appellant challenges the trial court’s judgment dismissing Appellant’s claims against the Executrix of her father’s estate and enforcing the agreement made by the Appellant with her siblings to share equally in the net assets of her father’s estate. We affirm.

[751]*751I. Facts and Procedure

Charles M. Riggan (“Mr. Riggan”), a businessman and owner of an automobile dealership, died on February 27, 1997, in Shelby County, Tennessee. Mr. Riggan was survived by three daughters, Linda Riggan Wood (“Ms. Wood,” “Linda Wood,” “Linda,” “Plaintiff,” “Appellee”), Cheryl Riggan Benson (“Ms. Benson,” “Cheryl Benson,” “Cheryl,” “Appellee”), and Terry Riggan Lowery (“Ms. Lowery,” “Terry Lowery,” “Terry,” “Defendant,” “Appellant”). At the time of his death, Mr. Rig-gan left an executed Last Will and Testament, dated December 24, 1996, and an executed Codicil to that Will, dated January 15, 1997. The Last Will and Testament, along with the Codicil, were admitted to probate on March 3, 1997, in the Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.

Pursuant to the testamentary documents and the proceedings in the probate court, Linda Wood was appointed Executrix of the estate of Mr. Riggan. Linda administered Mr. Riggan’s estate from its opening on March 3, 1997 until the estate was closed six years later on March 3, 2003.

Mr. Riggan’s Will contained provisions for Linda Wood and Terry Lowery, but it contained no provision for Cheryl Benson. Soon after Mr. Riggan’s death, all three of his children met with the family attorney, and Mr. Riggan’s Will and Codicil were presented to the children for the first time. At that meeting, Linda, Terry, and Cheryl learned for the first time that Mr. Riggan had made no provision for Cheryl in his Will. Cheryl was informed by the family attorney that she had a right to contest the Will and Codicil in the probate court as an omitted child of the deceased.

Notwithstanding the provisions for distribution contained in Mr. Riggan’s Will, Linda and Terry voluntarily agreed that they would share the net assets of their father’s estate equally with Cheryl, with the exception of the home located at 2500 Houston Levee Road, which would be shared equally by only Linda and Terry. Following the opening of the estate and continuing through its administration, the three sisters received regular monthly distributions from the estate in the amount of $2,000.00 each from Linda, the Executrix, pursuant to the equal sharing agreement. Further, Linda, Terry, and Cheryl shared equally in the proceeds of Linda’s sale of a diamond that had been owned by Mr. Rig-gan. On June 15, 1998, Linda and Terry reduced to writing a notarized document confirming their previous agreement to share their interests in their father’s estate equally with Cheryl, except for the residence located at 2500 Houston Levee Road.

During his lifetime, Mr. Riggan had involved John Lowery, Terry Lowery’s former husband, in many of his business ventures. Around June 1996, Mr. Riggan and John formed a business known as Revelation Corporation of America (“Revelation”), which was designed to promote economic opportunities for members of several African-American religious denominations. Mr. Riggan and John Lowery also formed, as equal shareholders, another company known as Lowery Rig-gan Co., which owned 30 percent of Revelation Corporation. Up until the time of his death, Mr. Riggan had loaned over one million dollars to Revelation Corporation. At the time of Mr. Riggan’s death, the value of the stock in both Revelation and Lowery Riggan was zero.

During the course of administering Mr. Riggan’s estate, Linda Wood made numerous payments to John Lowery and the Revelation Company from funds of the estate. She also paid service providers, financial institutions who made loans to Revelation, advertisers, CPA’s, and law[752]*752yers on behalf of Revelation. There were several loans made to Revelation and/or John Lowery from several entities. These loan funds were deposited into the estate account and were paid out to either John Lowery personally or for debts of Revelation Corporation.

On July 29, 1997, in order to memorialize the loans that Mr. Riggan made to Revelation, Linda Wood had John Lowery execute a Promissory Note on behalf of Revolution in favor of the estate in the amount of $1,074,796.43. Later, on August 1, 1997, Linda had John provide a life insurance policy on himself in the amount of one million dollars in an attempt to secure the funds owed to the estate. Linda testified that she believed that the loans she was making to Revelation and John Lowery from the estate were in furtherance of her father’s business practices and were made in an effort to protect the principal assets of the estate. Linda documented all funds that she loaned to revelation and John. Linda also had John execute a security agreement in which he pledged all of his 50 shares of Lowery Riggan Co., constituting 15% of the ownership of Revelation, to the estate.

Mr. Riggan’s Will also contained a provision that his children or any guardian of his children be allowed to reside in any residence owned by Mr. Riggan at the time of his death rent free. At the time of Mr. Riggan’s death, Linda Wood was residing in the family residence on Houston Levee Road (the “Houston Levee property”), and Terry Lowery was residing at the residence located on Gladeview Road (the “Gladeview property”). During the administration of the estate, Linda made payments from the estate for various expenses related to maintaining the Houston Levee property.

In 1991, Terry and John transferred the Gladeview property to Ms. Ruby Riggan, Terry’s mother and Mr. Riggan’s wife. After Ms. Riggan’s death, Mr. Riggan transferred the Gladeview property to himself and Terry as “joint tenants with right of survivorship.” At some point after Mr. Riggan’s death, Linda informed Terry that the estate could not continue making the $2,200.00 per month mortgage payments on the Gladeview property. Therefore, in August 1997, Terry sold the Gladeview property, paid off the mortgage, and received all of the proceeds from the sale.

Linda paid attorneys fees to the estate attorney in the amount of $212,700.75 out of funds of the estate. Additional attorneys fees were paid from the estate to other attorneys who were hired to discharge other claims against the estate. Linda paid herself Executrix fees totaling $100,000. None of the attorney fees or Executrix fees were submitted for approval or approved by the probate court, Terry, or Cheryl.

About five years after the estate was opened, Terry wrote to the estate attorney, J. Richard Rossie, expressing concern over the length of time the estate had remained open and requesting a meeting to discuss the administration of the estate. In early November 2002, Terry met with Linda and Attorney Rossie to discuss the administration of Mr. Riggan’s estate. In February 2003, Terry’s attorney confirmed his representation of Terry and her intention to not honor her agreement to share equally in the estate with Cheryl. On February 28, 2003, Linda transferred the remaining assets of Mr. Riggan’s estate to First Tennessee Bank, as Trustee, of Mr. Riggan’s Residuary Trust. On March 3, 2003, an order was entered in the probate court discharging Linda as Executrix and closing Mr. Riggan’s estate.

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Wood v. Lowery
238 S.W.3d 747 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
238 S.W.3d 747, 2007 Tenn. App. LEXIS 119, 2007 WL 674648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wood-v-lowery-tennctapp-2007.