Dawson v. Dawson

Rayford Turner Dawson died testate on June 6, 1995. A major portion of his estate was composed of seventy-eight acres of real property in Oconee County. The land was left to his eight children, in equal shares, with a life estate given to his wife. Two of Dawson’s children were named executors of his estate; his widow died in 1998. In 2002, one of the children not named as an executor, Wendell Turner Dawson, brought an action against the executors, seeking an equitable partition of the property and the appointment of a special master to take charge of the real estate, effect a sale of the property as a whole, and divide the net proceeds. Three other heirs later joined Wendell Dawson’s petition. After the institution of suit, the executors executed a contract to sell the property for approximately 1.3 million dollars. The trial court conducted a hearing and denied the petition for appointment of a special master.

The appellants assert that the trial court mistakenly assumed that the action was actually one for the removal of executors, which must be brought in the probate court. See former OCGA § 53-7-148. But, that assertion is belied by the record. The trial court did not declare that it lacked jurisdiction and dismiss the petition for equitable partition, rather it denied the petition on the merits.