Hayward v. Voorhees
Hayward v. Voorhees
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. Pearl Voorhees appeals from a decree that she convey certain property to the estate of her husband, Hillard L. Voorhees. The decree was entered as a' result of a combined hearing in the probate proceeding and a civil suit wherein her daughters, Betty V. Hayward and Beverly V. Clyde, respondents herein, had sued her to accomplish that purpose. In addition, both Mrs. Voorhees and Hanson Land & Livestock Company appeal from orders for partial distribution of certain property of the estate to said daughters entered in the probate proceeding.
In 1940, Hillard L. Voorhees made deeds to his wife for certain real property consisting of the family home and farm located near Manti, Sanpete County, Utah; and to about 2,800 acres of pasture land, referred to as the “mountain ground,” located a few miles northward in Sevier County. In 1953, just before taking an automobile trip, Hillard and Pearl informed their daughter Betty that they had executed instruments to convey this same property to her and her sister Beverly. There is no indication these were ever delivered. Shortly prior to Hillard’s death on July 24, 1956, the mother, Pearl Voorhees, recorded her deeds.
After Mrs. Voorhees was appointed ad--ministratrix there was dispute over various matters between her and her daughters, including whether the deeds to her were ever delivered and whether the said real property should be included in the estate; and similarly over a Taylor Grazing Permit held in connection with the mountain ground which allowed'the grazing of 1,870 head of sheep on federal lands. After the daughters petitioned to have her removed, Mrs.
In the meantime, on October 21, 1958, Mrs. Voorhees had contracted to sell to the Intervenor, Hanson Livestock “all of the right, title and interest of seller [Mrs. Voorhees] now owned or hereafter decreed to be owned by the seller” in the mountain ground and the grazing permit. The parties entered into that contract aware of the pending litigation mentioned above to determine whether such properties were assets of the estate. Mrs. Voorhees executed a transfer of the grazing permit to Hanson Livestock and the Bureau of Land Management accepted the transfer. Hanson Livestock deposited with Mrs. Voorhees $10,000 as a down payment. It has since paid the taxes and has grazed sheep as authorized by the permit.
Upon the day set for the trial of the civil action, April 1, 1959, Mrs. Voorhees and her daughters sought to compose their differences by entering into a “Memorandum of Understanding,” hereinafter referred to as the Memorandum. Certain of its provisions are pertinent to the issues with which we are now concerned. It provided that the mountain ground should be included in the estate; it noted the existence of Mrs. Voorhees’ contract with Hanson Livestock but recited that it was repudiated; and stated that “all proceeds from the estate as determined by the court in the probate proceedings, * * * shall be placed in trust, all net income therefrom to be paid to Mrs. Voorhees not less than quarterly during her life and the balance upon her death in equal shares to Betty Hayward and Beverly Clyde”; and further, that the action was “continued without date subject to being called up by either party should any question arise as to interpretation of this understanding or the items of money or property to be accounted for.”
When Hanson Livestock learned that Mrs. Voorhees had agreed to repudiate her contract, it instituted action against her, the daughters and the administrator to quiet title to the mountain ground and also filed a notice of lis pendens.
In August and September, 1959, combined hearings were had on a motion of the
In accordance with this decree, Mrs. Voorhees deeded the mountain ground to the administrator. She also accounted to it for the $10,000 down payment which she had received on the contract with Hanson Livestock. The latter then obtained permission to intervene in the probate proceeding and also offered the administrator the appraised value of $15.50 an acre (plus some interest) for the mountain ground, and $18,760 for the grazing permit (1,876 head at $10.00 per head.) The administrator and Hanson Livestock both petitioned the court to confirm the sale to Hanson Livestock on that basis. The daughters then filed a petition asking that the mountain ground be distributed to them, and offered to pay into court for use in connection with the trust for their mother its appraised value of $15.50 per acre. They later petitioned for their claimed two-thirds share in the grazing permit, offering to pay in the appraised value thereof on the basis of $10.00 per head.
During February and March, 1960, hearings were had on all of the foregoing petitions. The result therefrom was that on October 13, 1960, the court entered a judgment denying the petitions to confirm the sale to Hanson Livestock. It granted to the daughters partial distribution (their claimed statutory one-third interest each) in the mountain ground and the grazing permit, on the condition that they pay to the administrator or to the trust for their mother, $15.50 per acre distributed and $10.00 per head for the two-thirds interest in the grazing permit.
Mrs. Voorhees seeks to appeal from the decree of October 2, 1959, which emanated from both the probate proceeding an^l the civil case, and which ordered her to transfer the mountain ground to the estate. Both she and Hanson Livestock appeal from the judgment of October 13, 1960, just referred to.
Respondents raise an issue as to the timeliness of the appeal from the decree of October 2, 1959. It must be conceded that' if that decree was appealable at the time of its entry, no appeal was taken within the
It is further of interest to note that the trust has never yet been formally created, and that both proceedings are still in the same status as they were at the time of the October 2, 1959, decree. Therefore, if it were necessary that the trust be established before the determination that the estate owned the property could become final, there would not be an appealable decree even now, and the appeal therefrom would be premature, there having been no permission granted to take an interlocutory appeal as provided in Rule 72, U.R.C.P.
In deciding that the decree of October 2, 1959 must stand because no valid appeal was taken therefrom, in view of the necessity of dealing with the property in question as assets of the estate, we think it not amiss to observe that the findings that they are such are fully justified anyway. In the face of a bona fide dispute between Mrs. Voorhees and her daughters as to the ownership of the lands in question, they entered into the Memorandum agreeing that it should belong to the estate.
However the October 2,1959, decree made no disposition of the grazing permit. But the one of October 13, 1960, included a finding that it also belonged to the estate, and recited that the findings were based on “evidence adduced at the hearing.” Since
The challenge of the propriety of granting partial distribution of the mountain ground and the grazing permit to the daughters presents a problem of a different character. It seems likely that in making such order the court considered what may happen to the property by reason of the outstanding Hanson Livestock contract if the property passed to Mrs. Voorhees. However, that matter, which is the subject of a pending collateral law suit, is not of concern in this appeal. Whatever rights Hanson Livestock may have against Mrs. Voorhees, or against whatever property or interest therein she may acquire as a result of this appeal, and subsequent proceedings, must abide determination at the proper time and place. There must first be a determination of the rights of the disputing heirs, mother and daughters, in the property of the estate as between themselves before it can be told what Mrs. Voorhees’ interest “now owned or hereafter decreed to be owned” is. These heirs are entitled and obliged to have such rights determined upon the basis of the evidence and the law applicable to the controversy between them. It is important to keep in mind that they had agreed what their rights in the property would be by entering into the Memorandum.
In exchange for Mrs. Voorhees’ surrender of the mountain ground, the grazing permit and certain other assets, she was to get benefits tantamount to a life estate in the property by receiving the income from a trust to be made from the assets of the estate, and the daughters were to get the residuum after her death. Thus there were two purposes to be accomplished: (1) to benefit the mother during her lifetime; and (2) to benefit the daughters thereafter. Obviously the second purpose could not begin to be performed until the first had been fulfilled. The problem we then meet is whether the orders for partial distribution are in conformity with such purposes.
During the course of the hearings held in February and March, 1960, relating to the proposed confirmation of sale of the mountain ground and the grazing permit, or their partial distribution to the daughters, the court called for additional bids, as contemplated by the statutes.
Under the Memorandum, Mrs. Voorhees was entitled to the maximum benefit obtainable from the property during her lifetime. It is so plain as to not admit of argument that such purpose would not be served best by distribution to the daughters at the lower figure. Thus, the order made is in conflict with Sec. 75-12-5, U.C.A.1953, which authorizes partial distribution of an estate where it is shown to be for the best interest of the beneficiaries, and that “No person interested in the estate [shall] be prejudiced [thereby] * * No such finding was made and none could have been because the order of partial distribution to the daughters obviously prejudiced the interests of Mrs. Voorhees by reducing the potential of income available to her. Accordingly, her attack upon it must be sustained.
As to the grazing permit, there is no disparity in price involved because all parties uniformly placed the value at $10.00 per head of sheep authorized to graze. But because the mountain ground serves as “base lands” for the permit there are questions as to its value and usability as separate property. In view of the considerations above discussed and the fact that the order of partial distribution of the permit to the daughters is interrelated to that of the mountain ground, the only practical course is to reverse the order of partial distribution as to the grazing permit also.
Intervenor Hanson Livestock makes the valid point that Mrs. Voorhees could not unilaterally repudiate her contract with it. It also argues that after it had filed its action to quiet title and notice of lis pendens the court had no authority in the instant proceeding to make further orders with respect to such property until its rights were determined in the quiet title action. Hanson Livestock entered into the contract with Mrs. Voorhees fully aware of the dispute existing between her and her daughters. Neither the filing of its action nor its intervention in the instant one had the effect of depriving the court of juris
The decree of October 2, 1959, that the mountain ground is part of the estate, and that of October 13, 1960, determining that the grazing permit is part of the estate, are affirmed. The orders of October 13, 1960, granting partial distribution of said properties to the daughters (respondents) are reversed. Costs to appellants.
. In re Estate of Voorhees, 8 Utah 2d 231, 332 P.2d 670 (1958).
. See In re Auerbach’s Estate, 23 Utah 529, 65 P. 488 (1901) and cf. In re Williamson’s Estate, 26 Utah 50, 72 P. 2 (1903). Also see In re Tasanan’s Estate, 25 Utah 396, 71 P. 984 (1903); Farnsworth v. Hatch, 47 Utah 62, 151 P. 537 (1915); and In re Lynch’s Estate, 123 Utah 57, 254 P.2d 454 (1953).
. See Dahlberg v. Dahlberg, 77 Utah 157, 292 P. 214 (1930).
. Secs. 75-10-15, 16, U.C,A.1953.
. See 54 C.J.S. Lis Pendens § 16.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In the Matter of the ESTATE of Hillard L. VOORHEES, Betty HAYWARD, Beverly Clyde and Tracy Collins Trust Company (now Walker Bank & Trust Company), Administrator of the Estate of Hillard L. Voorhees, Civil No. 4784, and v. Pearl O. VOORHEES, and Hanson Land & Livestock Company, Intervenor and in Probate No. 2655
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published