Opinion ID: 1708366
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: forebearance to sue.

Text: Two officers of The Snowdoun Association, Carleton Billups and Robert Hardy, were related to Elizabeth Garth Daniel through a common ancestor. There was evidence that they threatened a civil action over Elizabeth's will. The briefs discuss the question of whether their forbearance to bring such an action could make the memorandum a binding contract. Forebearance to sue or institute some other legal proceeding can constitute consideration. However, in Mississippi as in most other states, this rule is qualified by the corollary that the action foregone must be a bona fide one. If a claim or defense is obviously frivolous or groundless, refraining to assert it cannot furnish consideration for an agreement. 17 C.J.S. Contracts § 103 A; In Re Sadler's Estate, 232 Miss. 349, 360, 98 So.2d 863, 867 (1957); Cf. McGehee v. McGehee, 227 Miss. 170, 182, 85 So.2d 799, 804 (1956). In the present case, Daniel argues that the contemplated challenge to Elizabeth's will would have been based on the mortmain statute. MCA § 91-5-31 (1972). The statute says, in part: No person leaving a spouse or child or descendant of a child shall, by will bequeath or devise more than one-third of his estate [to charity] to the exclusion of such spouse or child or descendant of such child. In all cases the will containing such bequest or devise must be executed at least ninety days before the death of the testator, or such bequest or devise shall be void. Daniel correctly points out that under our rule, the second sentence in all cases ... applies only to the will of someone leaving a wife, child, or descendants of children. Bell v. Mississippi Orphans' Home, 192 Miss. 205, 218-19, 5 So.2d 214, 219 (1941). The effect of this is that the mortmain statute can be invoked only by a spouse, child or descendant of a child. Carleton Billups and Robert Hardy are related to Elizabeth Daniel only collaterally. Therefore, any action they could have filed under the mortmain statute would have been groundless. The Association effectively admits as much in its brief by asserting that the challenge would not have been based on the mortmain statute but on the intestacy statute. However, this leaves Billups and Hardy in no better shape. Our statute of descent and distribution for real property, [MCA § 91-1-3 (1972)] clearly states that such property descends in equal shares to the surviving spouse and the children per capita. Other relatives may take only if there are no such heirs. Because Elizabeth Daniel left a surviving spouse, it is obvious that neither Carleton Billups nor Robert Hardy could take any part of her state under the intestacy statute. Thus, Billups and Hardy lacked even a colorable claim under the only two theories which could conceivably apply to any action they might file. Their forebearance to sue cannot furnish consideration for the memorandum.