The Tennessee Supreme Court rules that a confidential relationship does not arise, as a matter of law, when an unrestricted power of attorney is executed but is not exercised. Childress v. Currie (Tenn., No. W1999-00471-SC-R11-CV, May 3, 2002).
Virginia Leonard, a widow with no children, executed a will in 1994 leaving her entire estate to friend and former employer Billy Joe Childress. In 1997, Natasha Currie, a cousin, began living with Mrs. Leonard and caring for her. On May 22, 1997, Mrs. Leonard asked Ms. Currie to drive her to a funeral home so that she could purchase a pre-arranged funeral plan. Once at the funeral home, Ms. Currie waited outside the office while Mrs. Leonard purchased the plan. After purchasing the plan, Mrs. Leonard requested that the funeral home owner draft a power of attorney in favor of Ms. Currie and a will making her the sole beneficiary. Ms. Currie later testified that she did not learn of the power of attorney and the will until after she and Mrs. Leonard had left the funeral home.
Following Mrs. Leonard's death later that year, both wills were offered for probate. The probate court admitted the 1997 will and a jury upheld its validity. However, the trial court granted a motion for a directed verdict setting aside the jury's finding that Mrs. Leonard had not been unduly influenced. The trial court found that there was a presumption of undue influence because there was a confidential relationship and that Mrs. Leonard had not received independent advice prior to executing the 1997 will that would have rebutted the presumption of undue influence. On appeal, the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that since Ms. Currie was unaware of the power of attorney at the time Mrs. Leonard executed her 1997 will, there was not a confidential relationship between the two and thus no presumption of undue influence.
The Supreme Court of Tennessee affirms, finding no evidence that Ms. Currie knew of the Mrs. Leonard's intentions at any point before the documents were executed. 'When an unrestricted power of attorney is executed but has not yet been exercised,' the court writes, 'good sense dictates that there exists no dominion and control and therefore no confidential relationship based solely on the existence of the power of attorney.'
To download the full-text of this decision in PDF format, go to: https://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/022/childressbj.pdf
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