Title: Betty Ellis, as personal representative of the estate of Annie Laurie Pace, deceased v. Joshua Adam Falls West and Jacob Wayne Falls West, by and through their next friend, Agnes West
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1051822
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: April 27, 2007

REL: 04/27/07 Betty Ellis
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334)
242-4621), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made
before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
 OCTOBER TERM, 2006-2007
_________________________
1051822
_________________________
Betty Ellis, as personal representative of the estate of
Annie Laurie Pace, deceased
v.
Joshua Adam Falls West and Jacob Wayne Falls West, by and
through their next friend, Agnes West
Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court
(CV-06-1941)
WOODALL, Justice.
Betty Ellis, as personal representative of the estate of
her sister, Annie Laurie Pace, deceased, appeals from a
judgment for Joshua Adam Falls West and Jacob Wayne Falls West
1051822
2
("the children"), by and through their adoptive mother and
next friend, Agnes West, on the children's petition asserting
a claim in Pace's estate.  We reverse and remand with
directions.
The facts are undisputed.  The decedent, Annie Laurie
Pace, was the maternal great-grandmother of the children,
being the mother of Robert Pace, deceased, who was the father
of Kelly Pace, who married Ricky Falls in 1990.  In April
1993, Kelly Pace Falls died, survived by her husband and the
children.  On November 16, 1995, the children were adopted by
their paternal grandmother, Agnes West, and her husband,
Albert West, the children's stepgrandfather.
Annie Laurie Pace died intestate on July 25, 2005, and
letters of administration were issued to her sister, Betty
Ellis.  Subsequently, the children, by and through Agnes West,
filed in the probate court a "petition for determination of
heirship," alleging that they are the "only surviving lineal
descendants of Annie Laurie Pace."  The petition sought an
"order determining that [the children] are the heirs and next-
of-kin of [Annie Pace], and are entitled to inherit the estate
1051822
3
of [Annie Pace]."  The proceeding was removed to the Jefferson
Circuit Court.  
On July 5, 2006, Ellis moved for a summary judgment,
arguing that the children's petition had no merit, based on
Ala. Code 1975, § 43-8-48(1), which provides:
"If, for purposes of intestate succession, a
relationship of parent and child must be established
to 
determine 
succession 
by, 
through, 
or 
from 
a 
person:
"(1) An adopted person is the child of
an adopting parent and not of the natural
parents except that adoption of a child by
the spouse of a natural parent has no
effect on the right of the child to inherit
from or through 
either natural 
parent ...."
(Emphasis added.)  
On August 30, 2006, the trial court entered an order
granting the children's petition.  The order stated, in
pertinent part:
"The court hereby finds that the undisputed
facts show that Kelly Pace Falls, the biological
mother of [the children], died prior to the adoption
of the children; therefore, there was no termination
of parental rights nor relinquishment of parental
rights by Kelly Pace Falls.  The minor children were
adopted by their paternal grandmother, Agnes West
and 
paternal 
step-grandfather, 
Albert 
West,
following the death of Kelly Pace Falls.  The
biological father of the children consented to the
adoption of the children by his mother and step-
father.
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4
"The court finds further that § 43-8-48, Code of
Alabama, is not to be so strictly construed as to
disinherit these minor children from the biological
mother's grandmother.  There are no reported Alabama
cases applying strict construction of this statute
such that these children would not inherit under the
law of intestate succession under the facts of this
case.  Their deceased biological mother, the grand-
daughter of the decedent, Annie Laurie Pace, did not
consent to the adoption of her children, nor were
her parental rights terminated.  Neither does this
court provide for such a result."
(Emphasis added.)  
Subsequently, Ellis appealed.  On appeal, Ellis contends
that the trial court failed to apply § 43-8-48 according to
its plain meaning, and that it erred in failing to do so.
Our resolution of this dispute is governed by well-
established 
principles 
of 
statutory 
construction 
and
separation of powers.  It is axiomatic that "'[w]ords used in
a statute must be given their natural, plain, ordinary, and
commonly understood meaning, and where plain language is used
a court is bound to interpret that language to mean exactly
what it says.'"  University of South Alabama v. Progressive
Ins. Co., 904 So. 2d 1242, 1246 (Ala. 2004) (quoting IMED
Corp. v. Systems Eng'g Assocs. Corp., 602 So. 2d 344, 346
(Ala. 1992)) (emphasis added).  Moreover, "'[i]f the language
of the statute is unambiguous, then there is no room for
1051822
Agnes West is a grandparent, and Albert West is not the
1
"spouse of a natural parent."
5
judicial construction and the clearly expressed intent of the
legislature must be given effect.'"  Id. (emphasis added).
We see no ambiguity in § 43-8-48(1).  It clearly states
that an adopted child is not the child of its natural parents
"for purposes of intestate succession."  The single exception
is where the adoptive parent is "spouse of a natural parent."
It is undisputed that the exception does not apply in this
case.1
The children urge this Court to disregard the clear
statutory directive and engage in a labored public-policy
discussion, with a view to integrating the probate code with
the adoption code, and to affirm the judgment on that basis.
Children's brief, at 10-17.  This, we may not do.  
"'[Section] 43 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901
mandates the separation of judicial power from legislative
power and condemns the usurpation of the power of one branch
of government by the other.'"  Sears Termite & Pest Control,
Inc. v. Robinson, 883 So. 2d 153, 157 (Ala. 2003) (quoting Ex
parte Thicklin, 824 So. 2d 723, 732 (Ala. 2002)).  "'The
authority to declare public policy is reserved to the
1051822
Also immaterial is the fact that the children's deceased
2
mother did not consent to the adoption, a matter about which
the trial court expressed some concern.  Under Ala. Code 1975,
§ 26-10A-10(4), no consent to, or relinquishment of parental
rights for, adoption is required of a "deceased parent or one
who is presumed to be deceased under Alabama law."   
6
Legislature, subject to limits imposed by the Constitution.'"
Id. (emphasis added).  See Rogers v. City of Mobile, 277 Ala.
261, 281, 169 So. 2d 282, 302 (1964);  Almon v. Morgan County,
245 Ala. 241, 245, 16 So. 2d 511, 514 (1944) ("[T]he
Legislature prescribes the State's policy; the courts do
not.").
"Our laws of descent and distributions are of statutory
creation, and ... the status of parent and child has always
influenced legislative action in determining what shall become
of the property of those who die intestate ...."  Prince v.
Prince, 188 Ala. 559, 560, 66 So. 27, 28 (1914) (emphasis
added).  See also Woodliff v. Dunlap, 187 Ala. 255, 259, 65
So. 936, 938 (1914) ("[T]he subjects of descent and
distribution are of statutory control ...."). 
The legislature has unambiguously declared it to be the
policy of this State that, except in one instance immaterial
to this case,  an adoption severs a child from its natural
2
lineage for purposes of intestate succession.  The wisdom or
1051822
7
folly of that declaration is of no legitimate concern to the
judiciary.  Alabama State Fed'n of Labor v. McAdory, 246 Ala.
1, 9, 18 So. 2d 810, 815 (1944).  The judiciary's duty is
merely to enforce the policy as declared in § 43-8-48(1).
For these reasons, the judgment of the trial court is
reversed, and this cause is remanded with directions to enter
a judgment in favor of Ellis.
REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.
See, Lyons, Stuart, Smith, Bolin, Parker, and Murdock,
JJ., concur.
Cobb, C.J., concurs specially.
1051822
"'"[T]o declare what the law is, or has been, is a
3
judicial power; to declare what the law shall be, is
legislative."'" City of Daphne v. City of Spanish Fort, 853
So. 2d 933, 942 (Ala. 2003)(quoting Sanders v. Cabaniss, 43
Ala. 173, 180 (1869), quoting in turn Thomas M. Cooly,
Constitutional Limitations 91-95 (1868)).
8
COBB, Chief Justice (concurring specially).
I write to note that I must reluctantly conclude that the
plain language of § 43-8-48, Ala. Code 1975, does compel the
harsh and unfair result of disinheriting the children in this
case.  Moreover, although I do not believe that in enacting §
43-8-48 the 
legislature 
intended 
to 
disinherit children in the
situation presented here, my duty as a judge does not permit
me to "read into a statute what the Legislature has not
written,"  Elmore County Comm'n v. Smith, 786 So. 2d 449, 455
(Ala. 2000), and I cannot honestly construe § 43-8-48 in pari
materia with the provisions in Alabama's Adoption Code, Ala.
Code 1975, § 26-10A-1 et seq., so as to arrive at a more just
and equitable result.  Because I recognize that the courts are
not the branch of our government charged with the duty of
enacting statutory law,  I call upon our legislature to
3
consider 
modifying the exception 
in 
§ 
43-8-48(1) 
for adoptions
1051822
In pertinent part, § 26-10A-28 provides that "[a]
4
grandfather, 
a 
grandmother, 
great-grandfather,
great-grandmother, great-uncle, great-aunt, a brother, or a
half-brother, a sister, a half-sister, an aunt or an uncle of
the first degree and their respective spouses, if any[,] may
adopt 
a 
minor 
grandchild, 
a 
minor 
brother, 
a 
minor
half-brother, a minor sister, a minor half-sister, a minor
nephew, a minor niece, a minor great-grandchild, a minor great
niece or a minor great nephew ...."
9
by the spouse of a natural parent to include adoptions by
relatives, as noted in § 26-10A-28.4