Estelle Lee Miller, Linda J. Miller, and Robert McCready Miller sued Robert R. Lomax as executor of the estate of Thomas Eugene Miller, Carolyn Baldwin Miller, and Ray’s Uptown Body Shop, Inc. for fraud and breach of contract. By amendment to their complaint, the Miller plaintiffs added claims against Carolyn Miller and Lomax for interference with contract and against Lomax for breach of fiduciary duty. The trial court granted summary judgment to Lomax, Carolyn Miller, and Ray’s. The Miller plaintiffs appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part. To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the undisputed facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, warrant judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c; Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins , 261 Ga. 491 405 SE2d 474 1991. A defendant carries this burden by demonstrating the absence of evidence as to one essential element of the plaintiff’s case. Should the defendant do so, the plaintiff “cannot rest on its pleadings, but rather must point to specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue.” Id. Our review is de novo. Pyle v. City of Cedartown , 240 Ga. App. 445, 446 524 SE2d 7 1999.
Lee Miller and Thomas Miller were married in 1967 and divorced on May 11, 1994. In contemplation of their divorce, Lee Miller and Thomas Miller entered into a Settlement Agreement for the division of the marital property. The Settlement Agreement provided that “as an equitable division of marital property, Thomas Miller shall pay to Lee Miller the sum of $125,000.00 on March 1, 1994.” The Settlement Agreement also required that Thomas Miller execute a will in which he designated his adopted children, Robert Miller and Linda Miller, and his grandson, Robert Jacob Miller, as beneficiaries of not less than a third of his net estate. Further, the Settlement Agreement required that Thomas Miller “shall not make any conveyance, gift or other disposition of assets in order to substantially reduce his estate and/or to defeat the intent of this agreement.”
