Title: Ex Parte Barrows
Citation: 892 So. 2d 914
Docket Number: 1030359
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: May 7, 2004

892 So. 2d 914 (2004)
Ex parte Jamie Kay Shields BARROWS.
(In re James Shields, Jr. v. Estate of James Edward Shields, deceased).
1030359.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
May 7, 2004.
*915 William J. Trussell of Trussell &amp; Funderburg, P.C., Pell City, for petitioner.
Edwin M. Van Dall, Jr., Pell City, for respondent.
*916 STUART, Justice.
Jamie Kay Shields Barrows petitions this Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing Judge William E. Hereford of the St. Clair Circuit Court to vacate and set aside his order denying her motion to dismiss the will contest filed by James Shields, Jr. ("Shields Jr."), on the basis that the circuit court never acquired jurisdiction over the will contest. We deny the petition.
On January 21, 2003, Barrows, as executrix of the will of James Edward Shields, petitioned the St. Clair Probate Court to probate James Edward Shields's will. On February 10, 2003, the probate court admitted the will to probate and issued letters testamentary to Barrows.
On July 30, 2003, Shields Jr. filed a complaint in the probate court, contesting the will. On July 31, 2003, the probate court, ex mero motu, transferred the will contest to the circuit court. On July 31, 2003, pursuant to the probate court's order, the chief clerk of the probate court filed the will-contest complaint and a copy of the probate court's transfer order with the circuit court clerk. On August 4, 2003, counsel for Shields Jr. filed in the circuit court a copy of the will-contest complaint that had been filed in the probate court. The word "probate" was marked out and the word "circuit" was inserted in its place in the style. Counsel also submitted with the complaint a circuit court cover sheet. The circuit court docket fee for the filing of the complaint was not submitted until August 11, 2003.
Ex parte Flint Constr. Co., 775 So. 2d 805, 808 (Ala.2000).
Barrows contends that the circuit court exceeded the scope of its authority by refusing to dismiss the will contest for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Section 43-8-190, Ala.Code 1975, provides that "[a] will before the probate thereof, *917 may be contested by any person interested therein, ... by filing in the court where it is offered for probate allegations in writing. ...." (Emphasis added.) The probate court admitted the will for probate and issued letters testamentary on February 10, 2003. Shields Jr. did not file his will contest in the probate court until July 30, 2003. Clearly, Shields Jr.'s will contest filed in the probate court did not comply within the terms of § 43-8-190. Consequently, the probate court did not have jurisdiction over the will contest, and its order purporting to transfer the will contest to the circuit court was a nullity, see Ex parte Pearson, 241 Ala. 467, 3 So. 2d 5 (1941). Therefore, the filing by the chief clerk of the probate court with the circuit court clerk of the complaint originally filed in the probate court did not invoke the jurisdiction of the circuit court. Steele v. Sullivan, 484 So. 2d 422 (Ala.1986); Ex parte Pearson, supra. Cf. Kelley v. English, 439 So. 2d 26, 28 (Ala.1983).
Section 43-8-199, Ala.Code 1975, provides:
(Emphasis added.)
Shields Jr. contends that his counsel's filing in the circuit court a copy of the will-contest complaint filed in the probate court with the word "probate" marked out and the word "circuit" inserted in its place in the style and a circuit court cover sheet constituted an independent filing in the circuit court of the documents originally filed in and transferred from the probate court. Therefore, he says, he properly invoked the limited jurisdiction of the circuit court to entertain the will contest. We agree.
In Dunning v. New England Life Insurance Co., 890 So. 2d 92 (Ala.2003), this Court addressed whether "a timely filed copy of a notice of appeal is acceptable under the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure if that copy was produced by a facsimile transmission." 890 So. 2d  at 96. This Court stated:
890 So. 2d  at 96-97 (footnote omitted).
Applying the law and the reasoning set forth in Dunning, we must conclude that the filing of the copy of the complaint previously filed in the probate court with the word "probate" marked out and the word "circuit" inserted in its place in the style and the filing of a circuit court cover sheet constituted adequate pleading and documentation for the filing of the will contest in the circuit court. While the complaint appears to be a xeroxed copy of the complaint originally filed in the probate court, the complaint properly contains the name of the court, the title of the action, the file number, and the designation that it is a "complaint contesting will." See Rule 10, Ala. R. Civ. P. Additionally, applying the principle of law set forth in Dunning that a signature may be affixed in different ways, the attorney's signature, although not original, properly certified the allegations in the complaint. See Rule 11, Ala. R. Civ. P. See also Dunning, supra (noting that Rule 11 does not provide the method by which a pleading is to be signed). Additionally, Shields Jr. properly filed a cover sheet pursuant to Rule 3(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. Lastly, the docket fee was timely filed. The will was admitted to probate on February 10, 2003; the circuit court filing fee was tendered on Monday, August 11, 2003. Because August 10, 2003, was a Sunday, the filing fee was filed timely on Monday, August 11, 2003, within six months after the will had been admitted to probate. See § 1-1-4, Ala.Code 1975 (stating that if the last day of a period for filing is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, then the period runs until the end of the next day that is not a weekend day or holiday), and Odom v. Odom, 272 Ala. 164, 165, 130 So. 2d 10, 10 (1961)(quoting Webster's New International Dictionary for the definition of a calendar month, within the meaning of the statutory provision conferring jurisdiction to the circuit court after admission of the will to probate, as "`the time from any day of any of the months as adjusted in the calendar to the corresponding day (if any; if not, to the last day) of the next month.'"). Therefore, Shields Jr. properly filed the will contest in the circuit court within six months after the will was admitted to probate, and the jurisdiction of the circuit court was properly invoked.
Barrows properly invoked the jurisdiction of this Court, but she has not established a clear legal right to the dismissal of the will contest. The circuit court has subject-matter jurisdiction over that contest.
Based on the foregoing, the petition for a writ of mandamus is denied.
PETITION DENIED.
HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, BROWN, HARWOOD, and WOODALL, JJ., concur.