The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed a chancery court’s ruling invalidating a decedent’s will due to lack of authentication, lack of testamentary capacity, and undue influence and setting aside several deeds. In re the Matter of the Estate of Autry, No. 2023-CA-01300-SCT (Apr. 3, 2025).
Effie Mae Autry survived her husband. She had three sons, but two of them predeceased her. The sons who predeceased Effie were survived by five children. Effie executed a will in 2014 that provided for 143 acres of real property to be distributed one-third to her surviving son, Steve; one-third to the children of one deceased son; and one-third to the children of her other deceased son. In addition, the will provided for a $1,000 bequest to her church and specific bequests to Steve and each grandchild.
In early 2019, Marcus, one of Effie’s grandchildren, filed a petition for conservatorship on Effie’s behalf after being notified by Effie’s bank that Steve and his wife had accompanied Effie to the bank and tried to remove Marcus’s name from her accounts or close the accounts. Steve did not have a power of attorney to act on Effie’s behalf at the time. Marcus later withdrew the petition.
Also in 2019, Steve called Sidra Winter, who had been the family’s longtime attorney and had drafted Effie’s 2014 will, to discuss drafting a new will and deeds. However, after meeting with Effie and Steve, Sidra refused to prepare the new documents, believing there had been a significant decline in Effie’s mental capacity and because of concerns that Steve could exercise undue influence over his mother. Sidra also called other attorneys to warn them about the situation.
Steve then hired Anna Kate Robbins to draft a new will and deeds. Steve drove Effie to Anna Kate’s office, where she discussed the new will with Effie. Anna Kate was not aware that Sidra had refused to draft the documents and believed that Effie was competent to execute the documents and knew what she wanted to accomplish. Several days later, Steve drove Effie, Effie’s caregiver, and the caregiver’s sister to Anna Kate’s office to execute the will. Effie signed the will, leaving all of her assets to Steve, disinheriting all of her grandchildren, and omitting any bequest to her church. Her caregiver’s sister and Anna Kate’s secretary signed as witnesses but did not include their addresses in the affidavit. Effie later executed several warranty deeds creating a life estate for herself in her real property with a remainder interest to Steve.
After Effie’s death in 2021, Marcus contested the validity of the 2019 will. The chancery court ruled that the 2019 will was invalid because of failure to authenticate, lack of testamentary capacity, and undue influence by Steve and set aside the decree admitting the will to probate. The court also set aside the warranty deeds due to lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence by Steve.
On appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court concluded that the chancery court had correctly determined that the 2019 will had not been authenticated as required by the express language of the applicable statute, which stated that affidavits must contain the witnesses’ addresses. The lack of authentication based on the witnesses’ failure to include their addresses was dispositive regarding the invalidity of the 2019 will.
Moreover, the court determined that the chancery court had not erred in finding that the warranty deeds that Effie executed were the result of undue influence arising from Steve’s confidential relationship with his mother. Steve failed to rebut the presumption of undue influence at trial by clear and convincing evidence. The court found that substantial evidence supported the chancery court’s ruling that the 2019 will and warranty deeds were invalid because they were the product of Steve’s undue influence. Accordingly, the court affirmed the chancery court’s decision and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
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