Court Opinion

ID: 9775656
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:06:06.268785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:29.982247
License: Public Domain

GOODMAN, P.J.,
dissenting.
{1 A probate proceeding is not a suit or action of a civil nature which is cognizable as a case at law or in equity. Matter of the Estate of Wheeler, 1996 OK CIV APP 65, ¶ 8, 919 P.2d 460, 463. A probate proceeding is in the nature of a proceeding in rem and is controlled by the probate code. Id. The jurisdiction and power of the district court, when acting as a probate court, must be exercised in the manner prescribed by the probate code. See 58 0.$.2001, § 1.
I 2 A valid probate decree is one which, on the face of the judgment roll, shows the presence of three (8) required elements of jurisdiction: those of the person and subject matter as well as of the power to render the entered decree. Booth v. McKnight, 2003 OK 49, ¶ 11, 70 P.3d 855, 859. When an examination of the judgment roll reveals a want of one (1) or more of these requirements, the decree is facially void and subject to collateral attack by any interested party at any time and wherever venue may be laid. Id. "The word 'void'... means that which has no foree and effect, is without legal efficacy, is incapable of being enforced by law, or has no legal or binding force. ..." Blacks Law Dictionary, 5th Ed., 1979. Passage of time will neither vitalize a facially flawed decree (or judgment) nor immunize its plainly fatal deficiency from collateral attack. Booth, 2003 OK 49, at ¶ 11, at 859, 70 P.3d 855.
T3 Under Oklahoma's probate code, all heirs, legatees, and devisees are entitled to notice of the probate proceedings pursuant to 58 0.S$.2001, §§ 25 and 26. Notice is a sine gua non element of personal jurisdiction, without which the court wields no authority over the persons sought to be hauled before it. Booth, 2003 OK 49, at ¶ 20, 70 P.3d at 862. A probate decree (or any judgment) entered without proper notice is ipso facto facially void. Id., at ¶ 23, 70 P.3d at 863. While the core element of due process is the right to be heard, that element has no value unless advance notice is afforded at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner. Id., at ¶ 18, 70 P.3d at 862. Upon proper notice, a decree of distribution of the probate court is conclusive of the rights of interested parties in the absence of fraud or collusion. Id., at ¶ 11, 70 P.3d at 859. The terms of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and those of Article 2, section 7 of the Oklahoma Constitution forbid the state from *1016depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
T4 In the present case, it is undisputed that Co-Personal Representatives did not provide Palmer, a devisee under the will, with the required statutory notice in contravention of §§ 25 and 26. Failure to meet the statutory requirements of notice results in the probate court never acquiring jurisdiction to enter an order admitting the will to probate. All subsequent proceedings, including sales and final accountings, are invalid because no valid order exists admitting the will to probate. The probate decree is ipso facto facially void, i.e., without legal efficacy, and is incapable of being enforced by law. Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court's order denying Palmer's motion to vacate and remand the matter to the probate court for further proceedings consistent with this dissent.