JAMES L. HENRY, JR., ET AL. v. ELIZABETH P. CASEY ET AL. - Articles

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JAMES L. HENRY, JR., ET AL. v. ELIZABETH P. CASEY ET AL.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on May 3, 2023

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: David L. Moss, Signal Mountain, Tennessee, for the appellants, James L. Henry, Jr., and J. Robert Wheat, Jr.

Attorneys 2: Sam D. Elliott and Michael M. Thomas, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellees, Elizabeth P. Casey, Lynn P. Casey, Lee W. Patten, and Bethany Patten Neal.

Attorneys 3: Lauren Paxton Roberts and Johnathan D. Burnley, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, Jennifer Kent Exum and Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

Judge(s): FRIERSON

This appeal stems from the trial court’s dismissal of two creditors’ claims against the personal representatives of the decedent debtor’s estate. The creditors claimed that the personal representatives breached their fiduciary duties to the estate by failing to exercise the decedent’s statutory right, as a surviving spouse, to take an elective share of his deceased wife’s estate when the time limit for doing so had not yet expired at the time of the decedent’s death. The creditors also asserted claims against other parties associated with the personal representatives for conspiracy and inducement. In dismissing the creditors’ complaint, the trial court determined that (1) Tennessee statutory law provides that a personal representative of the surviving spouse’s estate “may” take an elective share on behalf of the surviving spouse who has died, (2) “may” indicates that the decision is discretionary, (3) the personal representative maintains the same discretion to elect that the surviving spouse held, (4) the personal representative owes no duty to creditors of the estate to make the election, and (5) the right to elect is not an asset of the estate that can be deemed “wasted” if unexercised. The creditors have appealed. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

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