Carin Braswell, As Administratrix Of The Estate Of Floyd Hughes Braswell Et Al.v.Beth Benton Et Al.
After their mother’s death, three siblings tried to equalize inherited real property and personal property among their estates. When the parties could not agree on the remaining contents of the family home and the accounting of estate assets, two siblings sued the administrator of a deceased sibling’s estate for conversion and damages. After a bench trial, the superior court awarded relief concerning ownership of specific household items and attorney-fee reimbursement. The Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part. It held that the evidence supported treating several identified items as individual property, but did not support awarding other listed bedroom and living-room items to one sibling rather than treating them as estate property. Those items had to be divided under the agreed lottery process. The court also upheld the attorney-fee reimbursement because the trial court had not abused its discretion. The mixed judgment preserved most of the fact findings while correcting the unsupported property allocation.
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