Court Opinion

ID: 9408433
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-12 19:05:50.138692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:43.851404
License: Public Domain

COURT OF CHANCERY
                                       OF THE
    SAM GLASSCOCK III            STATE OF DELAWARE                 COURT OF CHANCERY COURTHOUSE
     VICE CHANCELLOR                                                        34 THE CIRCLE
                                                                     GEORGETOWN, DELAWARE 19947

                                         July 11, 2023

    Gerald I. Street, Esquire                         Cynthia L. Maxwell Masters
    Street & Ellis, P.A.
    426 S. State Street                               Diane Elaine Maxwell Tori
    Dover, DE 19901
                                                      Beverly Anne Maxwell Miller
    Deirdre A. McCartney, Esquire
    Sergovic Carmean Weidman
    McCartney & Owens
    25 Chestnut Street
    PO Box 751
    Georgetown, DE 19947

                 RE: IMO the Estate of George Wroten Cordray and Robert L. Lane,
                 Administrator for the Estate of George Wroten Cordray, C.A. No.
                 2022-0614-SG

Dear Mr. Street:

         At the end of my Opinion of May 19, 2023, I asked for submission of “a form

of order for distribution of George [Wroten Cordray]’s estate consistent with [that]

Opinion.”1 The form of order you submitted on June 16, 2022, does not seem to

address the finding of that Opinion that the heirs were to be determined as of the

date of George Wroten Cordray’s death, June 23, 1988.2

1
    IMO Estate of Cordray, 294 A.3d 99, 105 (Del. Ch. 2023).
2
    See id. at 101 n.9.
      Accordingly, I have appended an order, consistent with my Opinion of May

19, 2023, identifying that the appropriate heirs are those descended from George

Wroten Cordray’s grandparents who were alive as of the date of his death, but I have

done so without identifying individuals. If the estate needs further instruction as to

the current individuals entitled to distribution, it should so inform me by 4:30 PM

on July 20, 2023. After that date, my order accompanying this letter order shall be

entered as a final order of the Court and the matter closed.

      To the extent the foregoing requires an order to take effect, it is SO

ORDERED.

                                              Sincerely,

                                              /s/ Sam Glasscock III

                                              Sam Glasscock III

cc:   All counsel of record (by File & ServeXpress)

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   IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE                  )
OF GEORGE WROTEN CORDRAY                     )
and ROBERT L. LANE,                          ) C.A. No. 2022-0614-SG
ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ESTATE                 )
OF GEORGE WROTEN CORDRAY                     )

                                     ORDER

      WHEREAS, George Wroten Cordray (the “Decedent”) died intestate on

June 23, 1988;

      WHEREAS, the Decedent without spouse or issue;

      WHEREAS, the Decedent’s parents, Norris Johnson Cordray and Emma

Leroy Wroten Cordray, predeceased the Decedent on August 4, 1955;

      WHEREAS, the Decedent’s only sibling, Norris Johnson Cordray Jr., was

adjudicated deceased on January 31, 2022, with a presumed date of death of

January 1, 2014,

      WHEREAS, Decedent’s only sibling, Norris Johnson Cordray Jr.,

repudiated the Decedent’s estate and died intestate without spouse or issue;

      WHEREAS, the Decedent’s grandparents, George Cordray, Mary Rebecca

Hayes, Viola E. Graham, and Roy Earl Wroten, all predeceased Decedent;

      WHEREAS, descendants of Decedent’s grandparents survived Decedent;

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   IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

1. That Robert L. Lane, administrator of the Estate of George Wroten Cordray,

   distribute the estate of George Wroten Cordray, to the descendants of

   Decedent’s grandparents per stirpes in accordance with 12 Del. C. §§ 501 et seq.

                                           /s/ Sam Glasscock III

                                           Vice Chancellor

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