IN RE ESTATE OF DRAKE 4 A.3d 450 (D.C. App. 2010) CASE BRIEF

IN RE ESTATE OF DRAKE

4 A.3d 450 (D.C. App. 2010)

NATURE OF THE CASE: The Estate (D) appealed a decision that ordered it to execute a quitclaim deed to the Widow Sherry (P) for property that was subject to a decade old settlement.

FACTS: In 1996, P renounced the will of her deceased estranged husband, Carthur, and filed suit in probate court. This resulted in a settlement agreement in 1998. In 2005 P filed a separate action seeking to set aside the settlement agreement. The Court dismissed the action. P appealed that action in 2010. The parties are now before the court once again on appeal from action brought by P in February 2008.The property is 99 percent owned by the Drake Trust, but is subject to IRS liens. As part of the 1998 settlement agreement, the Drake Trust agreed to execute a quitclaim deed to P for this property 'within 20 days following the IRS Settlement and the Release of the IRS liens . . . .' To this day the IRS liens remain unresolved. P has urged the trial court to use its equitable authority to grant her immediate possession of the property because the trustees have made no apparent progress toward the resolution of the IRS liens during the ten years since the execution of the settlement agreement. P got the judgment before the trial court in that the settlement was a condition precedent and D had failed to show that this condition precedent has not occurred, and [] has failed to show that [it] has acted diligently and in good faith with respect to what was necessary to be done by the trustee[s] in order to trigger the condition precedent. The judge ordered D to execute a quitclaim deed transferring the title of the property to P within twenty days of the order. D appealed.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

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