Title: In Re Estate of Goodburn
Citation: 210 Kan. 740, 504 P.2d 612
Docket Number: 46,752
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: December 9, 1972

210 Kan. 740 (1972)
504 P.2d 612
In the Matter of the Estate of Minnie P. Goodburn, Deceased.
No. 46,752

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed December 9, 1972.
W. Luke Chapin, of Chapin &amp; Penny, of Medicine Lodge, argued the cause and was on the brief for claimant-appellant.
Myrlen L. Bell, of Hall and Bell, of Medicine Lodge, argued the cause and Ralph C. Hall, of the same firm, was with him on the brief for respondents-appellees.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
FATZER, C.J.:
This was a proceeding commenced in the probate court to establish a demand against the decedent's estate, which was disallowed by the court after a hearing on the merits. The district court dismissed the appeal from the probate court for reasons hereafter detailed, and the petitioner, Ernest William Goodburn, has appealed. The facts are not in dispute.
George Goodburn and his first wife Nellie had lived together at Medicine Lodge for over 38 years prior to her death in 1958. They were frugal people and invested wisely, and had accumulated a substantial amount of property, mostly in corporate stocks. George and Nellie had a mutual will which left all their property absolutely to the survivor, except that in case of common casualty or in the case of the survivor dying without having made other disposition of his or her property, the remainder of their estates, after certain minor bequests, would go one-half to the petitioner or his heirs, and *741 one-half to Nellie's nephews, Donald E. Wright and his two brothers. George and Nellie had no children or other close relatives.
One year after Nellie's death, and on October 19, 1959, George married Minnie Pearl Johnson, who was a spinster, age 54. Minnie had very little property.
In 1961, George made a new will, consented to by Minnie, leaving her his residence, personal belongings, and about $10,000 in corporate stocks, absolutely. The balance of his estate of over $100,000 was placed in trust for Minnie's use during her lifetime, and then one-half to the petitioner or his heirs, and one-half to Donald E. Wright and his wife, Marjorie. As indicated, Donald E. Wright was Nellie's nephew, and the petitioner was a brother of George.
During George's marriage to Minnie he transferred the larger part of his personal property to Minnie and himself in joint tenancy. George died December 22, 1966, at the age of 80 years.
On August 17, 1970, Minnie executed her last will and testament which devised and bequeathed the home in Medicine Lodge to Donald E. Wright and his wife, and the remainder of the property was to be reduced to cash and one-half paid to Donald E. Wright and his wife, and one-half paid to Tempest Johnson, a sister-in-law of Minnie. Donald Wright was designated executor. The dates hereinafter mentioned present the legal issue which is before this court for determination.
Minnie died October 11, 1970. On November 10, 1970, her will was admitted to probate and Donald E. Wright was appointed executor. Notice to creditors and others concerned was first published two days later.
On June 25, 1971, the petition of Ernest William Goodburn for specific performance of an oral agreement to bequeath and devise one-half of the residue of the joint tenancy property to the petitioner, was filed in the probate court. On July 26, 1971, after due notice, a hearing was had on the petition and the matter was taken under advisement by the probate court. On July 29, 1971, petitioner filed a request for permission to amend his petition to conform with the evidence. A copy of the requested amendment was also filed.
On August 25, 1971, the probate court denied the petition for specific performance of the oral agreement to bequeath and devise, and denied the right to file the amendment to the petition. On August 31, 1971, the petitioner duly perfected an appeal to the district court.
*742 On October 27, 1971, the petitioner requested permission to file an amended petition in the district court, and on December 2, 1971, permission was granted.
On January 3, 1972, the executor and Tempest Johnson, a beneficiary, filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for the reason the appeal was not taken within nine months from the date the will was admitted to probate on November 10, 1970, pursuant to K.S.A. 59-2404.
The district court sustained the motion to dismiss, and the petitioner has appealed to this court from the order of dismissal. The issues on appeal are quite limited. The district court stated in its memorandum opinion as follows:
The petitioner-appellant contends that a petition for an allowance of a demand based on an oral contract to devise or bequeath by will constitutes a claim or demand under K.S.A. 59-2239, and that an appeal may be taken within thirty days from an adverse ruling under the provisions of K.S.A. 59-2404.
The appellees take the position that, as did the district court, the petition constituted a will contest, and that an appeal must be taken within nine months from the date the will is admitted to probate.
The issue presented is whether the proceeding is a will contest or a claim or demand against the decedent's estate. A decision of this question will determine the applicable statute fixing the time of appeal to the district court.
As indicated, the district court relied upon the case of Foss v. Wiles, 155 Kan. 262, 124 P.2d 438, where we held:
And, also, Yeager v. Yeager, 155 Kan. 734, 129 P.2d 242, where it was held:
In the opinion it was said:
It must be conceded that if the rule above announced is approved and permitted to stand, the judgment in the instant case must be affirmed. However, the petitioner contends the rule announced in Foss and Yeager incorrectly states the law and should be overruled or disapproved. We agree. No specific statement that a demand is in effect a will contest, or that a will contest is tantamount to a demand, has been made by this court in any case in which such a statement or conclusion was necessary to the decision.
Both Foss and Yeager were actions for the specific performance of certain oral agreements to leave property differently than the respective testators left the property by their wills. Both were commenced in the district court  not the probate court  and, undoubtedly, at that time, this court thought the important part of the holdings with respect to the construction of the new probate code was to require that actions for that relief be commenced in the probate court, and not the district court. In any event, the broad language quoted above from Yeager has caused unnecessary confusion in our probate law ever since.
The author of Bartlett's Kansas Probate Law and Practice (Rev. ed.), Mr. Samuel Bartlett, distinguished between a "demand" and a "will contest" after it was apparent there was some confusion in our law on the subject. In 2 Bartlett, op. cit, supra, § 780, he said:
What has just been quoted is in harmony with what was stated by this court in In re Estate of Sterba, 193 Kan. 56, 392 P.2d 136. There, the wife asserted her rights under a contract more than nine months after her husband's will had been admitted to probate, but within the time permitted by the nonclaims statute. (K.S.A. 59-2239.) The court said:
..............
In the present case, the petitioner is seeking to have the contractual obligation to bequeath and devise one-half of the property, enforced. He is in no way challenging the validity of the will, or the right of the beneficiaries to take under the will, or its operation as to the remaining property. He is merely asserting a claim or demand pursuant to the equitable power of the probate court (K.S.A. 59-301 [12]) to construe the alleged oral agreement of *746 the decedent to bind the property of her estate so far as to fasten a trust on it in favor of the petitioner, and to enforce such trust against the devisees and personal representative of the decedent. (Anderson v. Anderson, 75 Kan. 117, 123, 88 Pac. 743; Meador v. Manlove, 97 Kan. 706, 156 Pac. 731; Braden v. Neal, 132 Kan. 387, 392, 295 Pac. 678.)
It would serve no useful purpose to extend this opinion further. The court is constrained to hold that where a party seeks to enforce a contractual obligation to devise or bequeath a portion of a decedent's estate, the proceeding constitutes a demand against the estate and not a will contest, and an appeal may be taken by any person aggrieved by the decision of the probate court, to the district court within thirty days after the making of such order, judgment, or decree. (See 57 Am. Jur., Wills, §§ 180, 718, pp. 158, 488.) Any statement or decision in Foss or Yeager, or any statement in any other opinion of this court to the contrary is disapproved.
As indicated, the petitioner's appeal was timely perfected. The district court granted the petitioner's request to amend his petition for demand. All reasonable inferences in favor of the amended demand are required to be drawn, but they remain susceptible to proof by substantial competent evidence. With that observation, we conclude the order to dismiss the appeal in the district court was erroneous.
The district court's order is reversed with directions to reinstate the petitioner's appeal and to proceed in accordance with the views expressed herein.
It is so ordered.