In Re Estate of Bessie Adcock Bingham
M2016-01186-COA-R3-CV
| Tenn. Ct. App. | Jun 13, 2017Background
- Decedent Bessie Bingham died in 2011, leaving a will dividing her estate equally between her two children, Peggy Artley (petitioner) and William Bingham (executor).
- Executor initially listed an $80,000 Regions Bank certificate of deposit (CD) in the estate inventory, later omitted it claiming the CD was jointly held with right of survivorship.
- Bank documents (Time Certificate of Deposit, Deposit Account Agreement, Regulation CC disclosure, and a Signature Card) listed the account as “Bessie A. Bingham or Billy Bingham” and the Signature Card’s ownership type as “Joint (Right of Survivorship)”; the Signature Card in the record lacked signatures.
- Petitioner contested (1) that the CD did not carry a right of survivorship because the Signature Card was unsigned, so the funds belonged to the estate, and (2) the reasonableness and propriety of $20,000 in attorney fees paid from the estate to the estate’s first attorney, Wayne Bomar.
- Trial court found the bank documents conclusively established joint tenancy with right of survivorship under Tenn. Code Ann. § 45-2-703(e)(1), awarded the CD to Executor, approved $12,400 of the $20,000 in fees (disallowing $7,600), and treated the disallowed portion as a distribution to Executor.
- On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed both holdings: (1) CD passed to Executor by operation of law; (2) fee award of $12,400 was reasonable under the applicable standard.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Artley) | Defendant's Argument (Bingham/Executor) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the CD carried a right of survivorship and thus passed to the surviving joint tenant | The Signature Card was unsigned by the decedent, so the conclusive presumption of survivorship under Tenn. Code Ann. § 45-2-703(e)(1) is inapplicable; absent a signed designation, a rebuttable presumption disfavors survivorship | Bank account documents (including the deposit agreement and certificate) designated the account as joint tenants with right of survivorship; § 45-2-703(d)/(e) treats such account documents as conclusive evidence of intent to vest title in the survivor | Affirmed: the account documents established survivorship; CD passed to Executor by operation of law |
| Whether payment of $20,000 in attorney fees to the estate’s first attorney was improper or excessive | Percentage-based fee arrangement is per se invalid in probate and fees were excessive and served Executor’s individual interests | Percentage arrangements are not per se unlawful; trial court must review reasonableness under Rule 1.5 factors; trial court reduced award to a reasonable hourly equivalent ($12,400) based on records and circumstances | Affirmed: trial court did not abuse discretion; $12,400 award reasonable and within acceptable alternatives |
Key Cases Cited
- Kelly v. Kelly, 445 S.W.3d 685 (Tenn. 2014) (appellate review standard for bench trial factual findings)
- Wright ex rel. Wright v. Wright, 337 S.W.3d 166 (Tenn. 2011) (attorney-fee awards in probate are trial-court discretion)
- Lee Med., Inc. v. Beecher, 312 S.W.3d 515 (Tenn. 2010) (abuse-of-discretion review and required appellate scrutiny of discretionary rulings)
- Roberts v. Roberts, 827 S.W.2d 788 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1991) (discussing applicability of § 45-2-703 to certificates of deposit)
- State ex rel. Flowers v. Tennessee Trucking Ass’n Self Ins. Grp. Trust, 209 S.W.3d 595 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006) (weight of evidence required to overturn trial-court factual findings)