Case Title: Estate of Wilson v. NATIONAL BK. OF COMMERCE

Citation: 364 So. 2d 1117

Docket Number: 

State: mississippi

Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Date: 1978-11-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
364 So. 2d 1117 (1978) ESTATE OF Gaines P. WILSON, Sr., Deceased, Gaines Wilson, Jr. v. NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE of Mississippi and Scribner Equipment Company, Inc. No. 50723. Supreme Court of Mississippi. November 22, 1978. *1118 Fant, Crutcher, Moore & Spencer, L.G. Fant, Jr., Holly Springs, for appellant. Burgin, Gholson, Hicks & Nichols, John W. Crowell, Columbus, for appellees. Before PATTERSON, SUGG and BOWLING, JJ. SUGG, Justice, for the Court: This appeal is from a final decree of the Chancery Court of Oktibbeha County allowing five claims filed against the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson, Sr., a resident of Jefferson County, Kentucky, who died September 4, 1972. His will was admitted to probate in Kentucky on September 25, 1972, and was admitted to probate in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi on January 23, 1973 because decedent owned real property in Oktibbeha County. A final decree closing the Oktibbeha County Probate was entered on February 13, 1974. On March 18, 1975, the Oktibbeha County Chancery Court reopened the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson, Sr. Thereafter the National Bank of Commerce of Mississippi, the corporate successor to the First National Bank of Monroe County, Mississippi, probated a promissory note and Scribner Equipment Co., Inc., a Mississippi corporation, probated four promissory notes as claims against the estate. *1119 Gaines P. Wilson, Jr., as legatee under the will of Gaines P. Wilson, Sr., filed a contest to each of the claims. After an evidentiary hearing the chancery court entered a final decree allowing the probated claims as follows: Appellant assigns eight errors. In the first five assignments of error appellant contends that the court erred in allowing the claim on each of the notes probated. In his sixth assignment of error appellant contends the court erred in overruling the objection of appellant to the introduction of one of the notes of Scribner. In his seventh assignment of error appellant contends that the court erred in holding that the original notes were not filed as required by statute. In the eighth assignment of error appellant contends that the court erred in holding the judgments of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Kentucky were not entitled to full faith and credit in Mississippi. In his brief appellant combined the eight assignments of error for argument as follows: We will discuss the assignments of error sequentially as presented in the brief of appellant. Were the notes probated as required by statute? Section 91-7-149 Mississippi Code Annotated (1972) provides in part: A certified copy of each promissory note was retained by the clerk and attached to the copy of each note the following affidavit appeared: In Merchants and Manufacturers Bank v. Fox, 165 Miss. 833, 147 So. 789 (1933) we recognized that any claimant probating a promissory note may withdraw the original note by complying with the statute. In this case, we stated: The certificate of the clerk shows that each note was a true and correct copy of the original note which was presented to him for probate as a claim against the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson. The clerk also certified that after each original note was filed and numbered it was withdrawn and the copy substituted. It is true that the clerk did not mark on any of the original notes the word "filed" and did not number the original notes, but this omission did not invalidate the probation of the notes. We hold that the certificate of the clerk was sufficient and that the notes were duly probated as required by statute. Are the claims as probated too ambiguous to permit allowance? The five notes in question were probated on August 15, 1975 and in each case the probated claim set forth the principal balance due, the interest accrued to August 15, 1975, the rate of interest to accrue on the principal until the note was paid, and the percentage claimed for attorneys fees. Appellant points out that the affidavit accompanying each note avers, "Neither affiant nor any other person has received payment in whole or in part thereof, except such as is credited therein." Appellant then argues that the affidavit is ambiguous because each probated claim is less than the face amount of the note, and that the date and amount of payments on the notes should be stated in the probated claim. Appellant relies on Rice Stix v. Monsour, 178 Miss. 621, 174 So. 63 (1937) where we held that the claim presented was so vague, indefinite and uncertain as to be wholly insufficient to constitute a claim against the estate, and denied Rice Stix the right to amend the claim after the statutory period for probation of claims. In our view Rice Stix is not controlling, but in any event the denial of the right of Rice Stix to amend the claim was specifically modified in Central Optical Merchandising v. Lowe, 249 Miss. 61, 160 So. 2d 673 (1964) where we held it is permissible to amend a claim if the amendment does not amount to a new claim but is merely an improvement or perfection of one presented in time but lacking certain elements necessary to express its full merits. In Central Optical, supra, we stated: We are of the opinion that the notes as probated satisfied the requirements of our statutes on filing claims against deceased persons. If the contestant was uncertain as to whether the principal amount claimed on each note was correct, it was incumbent on him to file, either a motion for a bill of particulars, or a motion to make the claim more definite and certain by requesting the dates and amounts of payments on the notes. This principle was enunciated in Central Optical, supra, in the following language: We also stated: The evidence supported the claims of the bank and Scribner. We hold that the notes were properly probated as claims against the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson, Sr. Was the note to the bank paid in full? The bank's note was a demand note in the amount of $25,000 dated August 16, 1971 bearing interest at 7% per annum after date. Appellant introduced three checks from the trust department, Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Company of Louisville, Kentucky payable to the First National Bank of Aberdeen as follows: On March 2, 1976 the Jefferson County Circuit Court issued an order of distribution directing that the bank be paid $10,407.97 as balance due on the note held by it. A check for this sum dated March 17, 1976 payable to the order of the bank was received by the Kentucky attorney of record for the claimant and was held by the claimant uncashed until the trial in this cause. The chancellor ordered, as a condition precedent to the recovery allowed the bank, that the check be returned to the executor. The evidence does not show that the note due the bank was paid in full and the bank was not bound by the order of the Kentucky court because it had probated its claim in a Mississippi court. This will be discussed more fully in Part IV of this opinion. Did the judgments of the Circuit Court of Kentucky bar claimants from filing their claims in Mississippi? The Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Kentucky entered judgments in favor of Scribner against the Executor of the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson, Sr. upon three of the notes probated by Scribner in the Chancery Court of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. On March 14, 1975 the Jefferson Circuit *1122 Court entered an order directing Scribner to dismiss all actions in the State of Mississippi against the executor on or before March 25, 1975, and provided that, if Scribner failed to dismiss the Mississippi action by that date, Scribner would be enjoined from prosecuting its claims pending in the Kentucky court, and Scribner's answer and counterclaim and all of its pleadings would stand dismissed with prejudice as of March 25, 1975. Scribner declined to dismiss its proceedings in Mississippi so its claims were dismissed by operation of the order of March 14, 1975. Scribner appealed and in Scribner Equipment Co., Inc. v. Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Company, Executor of the Estate of Gaines P. Wilson, Deceased, Case No. 75-483, decided February 17, 1978, the Court of Appeals in Kentucky held that Scribner was entitled to pursue its claims in appropriate proceedings in Mississippi. In an unpublished opinion the Appeals Court held: The reversal of the order of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County by the Court of Appeals is a complete answer to appellants' contention under this assignment of error. However, there is a more compelling reason to reject appellants' argument under this assignment of error because the administration of an estate in Mississippi is not ancillary to the administration of the same estate in a foreign jurisdiction. Where the courts of Mississippi are independently administering an estate of a non-resident decedent, a claim which has been disallowed in the estate of the non-resident administered in the court of his residence, is not a bar to a claim filed in the courts of this state. In Buckingham Hotel Co. v. Kimberly, 138 Miss. 445, 103 So. 213 (1925) the hotel, a Missouri corporation, filed a claim in probate proceedings in the State of Missouri, the state of residence of decedent. The claim was disallowed by the Missouri court, but we held that the disallowance of the claim by the Missouri court did not bar allowance of the same claim in Mississippi probate proceedings. We followed the well established rule that the estate of a non-resident decedent who owns property in this state may be administered in the courts of this state, and such administration is not ancillary to, but is independent of all other administrations, and is to be conducted in all respects as if the decedent had been a citizen of this state when he died. In Buckingham, we stated: Gaines P. Wilson, Sr. owned real and personal property in Mississippi; therefore the Chancery Court of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi had jurisdiction to administer his estate. Claimants were entitled to file their claims and have them adjudicated in the Mississippi court would regard to any proceedings in the Kentucky courts. For this reason, the judgment of the Kentucky court involving the claims of both the bank and Scribner was not binding on the Mississippi court. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH and ROBERTSON, P. JJ., and WALKER, BROOM, LEE, BOWLING and COFER, JJ., concur. [1] Bolton v. Barnett, 131 Miss. 802, 95 So. 721 (1923) and Carroll v. McPike, 53 Miss. 569 (1876). See also Estate of Torian v. First National Bank of Memphis, 321 So. 2d 287 (Miss. 1975) wherein Bolton and Carroll supra, are quoted with approval; Voyles v. Robinson, 151 Miss. 585, 118 So. 420 (1928).