Mann v. Blalock

The trial court erred in finding the administrator's deed from appellant to decedent's nephew conveyed fee simple title, rendering null and void the restriction placed on the property in the decedent's will, because her will clearly intended to convey a limited fee to her nephew.

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In this quiet title action, appellant Charles S. Mann appeals from an order of the superior court adopting the report of a Special Master and decreeing that fee simple title to an undeveloped two-acre tract of land in Lamar County is vested in appellee N. L. Blalock. In 1995 Hattie Thelma Mann died owning the real property at issue. She named appellant her brother as executor with power to administer her estate. In Item V of her Last Will and Testament, she disposed of the land as follows: “I give, bequeath, and devise to my beloved nephew, Lawrence Mann, two acres of land to live on, and, in the event said Lawrence Mann should not live on said two acres of land, same will revert to my estate.”1 Pursuant to that bequest, appellant conveyed the property by administrator’s deed to Lawrence Mann in 1996. Apparently based on information that Lawrence Mann was not residing on the property, in 2004 appellant filed a prior quiet title action “2004 action” pursuant to which an order was entered vesting fee simple title to the two-acre parcel in appellant as executor of the estate.2 On the next day, appellant in his capacity as executor, deeded the property to himself individually.

In 2004 the Lamar County Commissioner conducted a tax sale to levy on the property for unpaid taxes for the years 2002 and 2003. A title search showed Lawrence Mann as the owner and taxpayer of record and he was named as a defendant in fi. fa. and served with notice of the proceedings. The tax commissioner also named and served appellant as a party due to uncertainty in the chain of title. The property was sold on the courthouse steps to appellee who acquired a tax deed from the commissioner. In addition, Lawrence Mann executed a quitclaim deed in favor of appellee in 2005, expressly releasing any right of redemption he may have had resulting from the tax sale. Both the tax deed and the subsequent quitclaim deed were duly recorded and indexed.

Mann v. Blalock

The trial court erred in finding the administrator's deed from appellant to decedent's nephew conveyed fee simple title, rendering null and void the restriction placed on the property in the decedent's will, because her will clearly intended to convey a limited fee to her nephew.

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