The Mississippi Supreme Court invalidates a deed, will and adult adoption that were completed during an eight-year relationship between an elderly woman and a legally savvy man 54 years her junior. Estate of Reid (Miss. Sup. Ct., No. 2000-CA-00663-SCT, Dec. 13, 2001).
During the summer of 1979, Michael Cupit, then 24, made an uninvited visit to the home of Mary Lea Reid, then 78. Mr. Cupit continued to visit Mrs. Reid that fall when he began law school, and over time he developed a strong relationship with her, which he represented as that between mother and son. In 1982, Mr. Cupit took Mrs. Reid to meet with attorney Raymond Boutwell of the firm Allen, Allen & Boutwell. Mr. Boutwell prepared a deed conveying Mrs. Reid's property to Mr. Cupit, reserving a life estate for Mrs. Reid. In August 1983, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Cupit once again visited Allen, Allen & Boutwell, and another partner in the firm prepared a will for Mrs. Reid that devised all of her property to Mr. Cupit. This will was essentially a duplicate of an earlier holographic will that Mr. Cupit had helped Mrs. Reid write. In 1986, Mrs. Reid adopted Mr. Cupit.
Following Mrs. Reid's death in 1997, an heir, Thomas J. Pluskat, sought to set aside the deed, the will, and the adoption. The Chancery Court did so, finding that they were all products of Mr. Cupit's fraud and undue influence on Mrs. Reid. The chancellor found, among other things, that Mrs. Reid did not receive independent counsel because the law firm represented both Mrs. Reid and Mr. Cupit; that Mr. Cupit was acting as Mrs. Reid's attorney on other matters; that Mr. Cupit had alienated Mrs. Reid's family and friends by his territorial behavior; and that the adoption was the product of a "long term plan and scheme" concocted and obtained by Mr. Cupit by fraud and overreaching.
Mr. Cupit appealed, arguing that the ten-year statute of limitations on actions to recover land had run out; that Mr. Pluskat lacked standing to challenge the validity of the adoption; and that Mrs. Reid was competent to make a will and that no confidential relationship existed between the two of them.
The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirms the chancellor's ruling, finding substantial evidence that Mr. Cupit did not act in good faith. The court holds that because Mrs. Reid retained a life estate and remained in possession of the land until her death, the ten-year statute of limitations did not commence until Mrs. Reid's heirs had notice of the existence of the attempted deed. The court finds that although Mr. Cupit's assertions about the adoption are correct, "this case is highly unusual. . . .[W]e are not dealing with the adoption of a child in this case. We are dealing with an adult man, with a law degree, who gained the trust and dependence of an elderly lady. Other states have recognized this problem and found that the heirs of a deceased person who adopted an adult do have standing to attack the adoption." Finally, the court affirms the chancellor's decision to set aside the will, finding that far from supplying independent counsel concerning Mrs. Reid's will, the attorney who prepared it acted as "a mere scrivener."
For the full-text of this decision, go to: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1049991.html
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