Kidwell v. Rhew case brief

Kidwell v. Rhew case brief summary
268 S.W.3d 309 (2007)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant estate administrator challenged the judgment of the Circuit Court of White County, Arkansas, denying the administrator's request to receive an intestate share of the decedent's estate, and discharging her as administrator and declaring the estate closed, in the action with appellee decedent's daughter.

CASE FACTS
The decedent established a trust. The decedent was named trustee and the daughter was a successor trustee upon the decedent's death. The decedent never executed a will and she died intestate in March 2004. Following her death, the administrator identified three separate assets that were potentially includable in the decedent's estate, including parcels of real estate that had been transferred to the trust. The administrator argued that the pretermitted-heir statute should apply to dispositions made by testamentary will substitutes, such as an inter vivos trust.

DISCUSSION

• The reviewing court held that Ark. Code Ann. § 28-39-407(b)(2004) applied only to wills and not to trusts created during the life of the settlor. 
• The pretermitted-heir statute spoke only in terms of wills, and not of trusts, and the administrator cited no convincing authority that would compel the reviewing court to reach the conclusion she urged. 
• The pretermitted-heir statute, which spoke only in terms of the execution of a will, did not apply in instances in which there was no will.

CONCLUSION
The judgment was affirmed.

Suggested Study Aids For Wills, Trusts & Estate Law