Opinion ID: 2739491
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 2008 Corrective Deed

Text: Although the circuit court rejected a challenge to the corrective deed because Chichester and Lambson failed to establish fraud, the corrective deed was void for the reasons stated by Chichester and Lambson in their answer: “[T]he Grantor of the Power of Attorney was deceased and therefore the Power of Attorney no longer existed. In addition, [Gene Cook] was not and never has been the Executor of the Estate of George P. Cook.” The record appendix confirms that Gene Cook was never appointed to be the executor of George P. Cook’s Estate. Furthermore, George P. Cook died in 1999, approximately nine years prior to Gene Cook’s 2008 execution of the corrective deed as George P. Cook’s attorney-in-fact. 11 West Virginia and Florida have statutory provisions stating that a power of attorney terminates when the principal, or grantor of the power, dies. See W.Va. Code, 39B-1- 110(a)(1) [2012], and Fla. Stat. Ann. § 709.2109 [2011]. Specifically, W.Va. Code, 39B-1- 110(a)(1) [2012], of the West Virginia Uniform Power of Attorney Act provides that a power of attorney terminates when the principal dies. See also In re Richard P., 227 W.Va. 285, 293, 708 S.E.2d 479, 487 (2010) (An ordinary power of attorney terminates upon the death of the principal.). As counsel for Chichester and Lambson stated succinctly at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment: “You cannot be both a power of attorney for your principal and an executor for your principal.” This Court is therefore of the opinion that the 2008 corrective deed was void ab initio and of no moment in the reformation of the August 28, 1997, deed by which Gene Cook conveyed the property to himself.