In Re Estate of Seifert

California Court of Appeal Apr 4, 2005 No. C046456Published

Before: Sims

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Holding. An executor of an estate cannot acquire title to estate property by adverse possession against the heirs during the period of administration because the executor occupies a fiduciary relationship toward the beneficiaries.

Issues

Whether an executor can acquire title to estate property by adverse possession against the heirs during the period of administration.

Disposition. reversed and remanded

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“Pending the administration of an estate, the possession of an administrator is not adverse to that of an heir; he cannot acquire an adverse title by possession for the statutory period.”

“Bob’s possession of Blackacre could not be adverse to Dick during the time Bob was executor and Dick was a beneficiary.”

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Opinion

SIMS, Acting P. J .

This case demonstrates that sometimes the old law is the good law.

Prior to 1994, Robert Seifert (decedent) owned a 20-acre parcel of real property that we shall call Blackacre.

Decedent’s will devised Blackacre to decedent’s two sons, Gerald R. Seifert (Dick) and Stanley Seifert (Stanley).

The trial court found that on June 9, 1994, decedent made an oral gift of Blackacre to another son, Robert L. Seifert (Bob).

Bob was also named the executor of decedent’s estate.

Decedent died on November 14, 1998.

The probate court admitted decedent’s will to probate and named Bob executor on January 8, 1999.

In August 2000, Bob filed a “Petition for Settlement of First and Final Account, Approval of Assignment, Fixing and Allowing Compensation, and for Final Distribution” in probate. As relevant, the petition declared that the real property devised in the will to Dick and Stanley was not part of the estate, “having been conveyed to the petitioner several years prior . . . .”

In September 2000, the probate court entered an order settling and distributing the estate.

In December 2002, Dick filed a “Petition for Order Directing Personal Representative to Distribute Property to Beneficiaries and to Provide Proof to Court and Beneficiaries of Transfer of Real Property Prior to Decedent’s Death or Reopen Probate to Provide for Disposition of Said Real Property and for Attorney’s Fees.” It alleged in part: In reliance on decedent’s devise of Blackacre to Dick and Stanley, Dick had invested more than $30,000 in

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the house on the property and had lived there continuously. Decedent demonstrably owned the property as recently as August 12, 1993, when a lender on the property required his signature. On June 9, 1994, Bob purported to convey the property to his living trust. However, a search of the San Joaquin County Recorder’s Office had not located any deed by which decedent ever conveyed the property to Bob, and Bob had not responded to a request to produce such a deed. Therefore, the court should either require Bob to produce the deed or reopen probate to redistribute the estate’s property in accordance with the will.

In Re Estate of Seifert

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DISPOSITION

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