Prout v. Williams, 55 So. 3d 195

Floyd McIntosh died intestate in 1979; he was survived by his widow Cora Badgett McIntosh and no children born of their marriage.
Della Mae McIntosh, Floyd's daughter born out of wedlock before Floyd and Cora married, predeceased Floyd in 1975 and left five children, including Olivia Prout.
Mississippi amended § 91-1-15 in 1981 to allow an illegitimate child to inherit from the father under specified conditions, with a three-year catch-up window (1981–1984) and a separate one-year/90-day timing for adjudication after death.
In 1983 Cora deeded one acre of Floyd’s property to Loyal Smith; Cora later died in 1994, leaving Williams as a beneficiary under her will.
In 2008 Williams filed a petition to adjudicate Floyd’s heirship; the chancery court held Floyd’s sole heir at law was Cora because Della’s paternity had not been established and no adjudication occurred within the statutory time.
Olivia appealed, challenging (a) whether Della could be Floyd’s heir under § 91-1-15 and (b) whether tolling occurred due to Cora’s 1983 conveyance.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Cora was the sole heir at law of Floyd	Olivia claims Della's paternity was established prior to Floyd’s death, making Della a potential heir.	Williams argues no valid pre-death or timely adjudication established Della as Floyd’s heir; thus Cora remains the sole heir.	No; Della’s pre-death paternity was not adjudicated, so Floyd’s sole heir remained Cora.
Whether § 91-1-15(3) tolling applies to the 1983 conveyance	Olivia asserts Cora acted as administratrix de son tort and that the 1983 deed tolled the three-year catch-up window for illegitimate heirs.	Williams contends Cora was not administratrix de son tort and the conveyance did not toll the statutory period.	No tolling occurred; Cora’s conveyance did not toll the catch-up period, and the claims were time-barred.

Estate of Dykes v. Estate of Williams, 864 So.2d 930 (Miss. 2003) (standard for reviewing factual findings; clear error standard)
In re Estates of Davidson, 794 So.2d 261 (Miss. Ct. App. 2001) (illegitimate heirs must prove heirship by clear and convincing evidence)
Estate of McCullough v. Yates, 32 So.3d 403 (Miss. 2010) (three-year catch-up period governs time to adjudicate paternity)
In re Estate of Johnson, 705 So.2d 819 (Miss. 1996) (administratrix de son tort doctrine; tolled limitations in certain contexts)
Mann v. Buford, 853 So.2d 1217 (Miss. 2003) (alleged wrongful conveyances do not toll statute of limitations)
Leflore ex rel. Primer v. Coleman, 521 So.2d 863 (Miss. 1988) (cannot toll limitations via concealment by an administrator when not administratrix)
Thomas v. Thomas, 883 So.2d 1173 (Miss. 2004) (notice issues tolling period in certain illegitimate-heir contexts)