Golly v. Eastman (In re Estate of Dimatteo)

2013 IL App (1st) 122948

995 N.E.2d 420

374 Ill.Dec. 281

In re ESTATE OF Richard DiMATTEO, Deceased(Thomas Golly, Petitioner–Appellant,

v.Clint Eastman, Individually, and as Independent Executor of the Estate of Richard DiMatteo, Respondent–Appellee).

Docket No. 1–12–2948.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Sixth Division.

Aug. 16, 2013.

Kevin J. Todd and John C. Lillig, both of Hoogendoorn & Talbot, LLP, of Chicago, for appellant.

Donald M. Thompson, of Chicago, for appellee.

Justice GORDON delivered the judgement of the court, with opinion.

OPINION

¶ 1 Two months before he passed away, decedent Richard DiMatteo executed a will naming respondent Clint Eastman executor of his estate and giving his entire estate to Eastman. This will revoked a previous will, which named petitioner Thomas Golly executor and gave DiMatteo's entire estate to Golly. After Eastman filed a petition to probate DiMatteo's new will and request his letters testamentary, Golly filed a petition to contest and invalidate the will. The petition contained two counts: (1) undue influence; and (2) tortious interference with testamentary expectancy.

¶ 2 Eastman filed a motion to dismiss under section 2–615 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2–615 (West 2010)), arguing that Golly failed to plead sufficient facts to state a claim for both counts. The probate division granted Eastman's section 2–615 motion and dismissed the petition with prejudice. Golly appeals, and for the following reasons, we reverse.

¶ 3 BACKGROUND

¶ 4 Decedent Richard DiMatteo, a resident of Cook County, Illinois, passed away on June 14, 2011. On April 8, 2011, two months before he passed away, DiMatteo executed a will naming respondent Clint Eastman executor of his estate and “giv[ing] all the rest and residue of my estate of every kind and character, whether real or personal, wherever situated, including lapsed legacies, but expressly excluding any property over which I may have power of appointment at my death” to Eastman (the 2011 will). The 2011 will revoked “all prior wills and codicils.” DiMatteo had previously executed a will on April 26, 2010 (the 2010 will), which the 2011 will revoked. The 2010 will named petitioner Thomas Golly as executor and gave “all the rest and residue of my estate of every kind and character, whether real or personal, wherever situated, including lapsed legacies, but expressly excluding any property over which I may have power of appointment at my death” to Golly. If Golly did not survive by 30 days, DiMatteo's estate would pass to Golly's grandson, Thomas McIntosh Golly. If Golly's grandson was a minor at the time he inherited DiMatteo's estate, “payment [would be] made for the benefit of Golly's grandson to a custodian under the Uniform Gifts or Transfers to Minors Act.”

¶ 5 On June 16, 2011, two days after DiMatteo passed away, Eastman filed a petition to probate the 2011 will and for the issuance of letters testamentary in the probate division of the circuit court of Cook County. Eastman attached a list of heirs and legatees, which listed two of DiMatteo's cousins as heirs, ¹ and listed Eastman as a legatee. The list stated that Eastman was DiMatteo's friend. On December 12, 2011, Golly filed a petition to contest and invalidate the will. The petition included two counts: (1) undue influence and (2) tortious interference with testamentary expectancy. Eastman filed a motion to dismiss the petition under section 2–615 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure ( 735 ILCS 5/2–615 (West 2010)), arguing that Golly failed to state a cause of action. On May 1, 2012, the probate division granted Eastman's motion without prejudice and gave Golly leave to file an amended petition. Golly filed an amended petition on May 31, 2012, and it is this petition that serves as the basis for this appeal.

¶ 6 I. The Amended Petition

¶ 7 Golly alleges the following in his amended petition.

¶ 8 A. The Parties

¶ 9 DiMatteo lived alone in Riverside, Illinois. DiMatteo never married, had no children, and was not close with his extended family. DiMatteo passed away after a “precipitous decline in his health in the last few months of his life.” The petition further alleges that DiMatteo was suspicious of others and paranoid, and exhibited paranoid characteristics. He did not develop trust or friendships quickly.

¶ 10 Golly is a farmer residing on his family farm in Winnebago, Minnesota. In the early 2000s, DiMatteo purchased farmland adjacent to Golly's family farm.

¶ 11 Eastman resides in Winnebago, Minnesota, and worked for Golly as a farmhand. Eastman is not related to DiMatteo by blood or marriage, and, on information and belief, Eastman “was, at most, a passing acquaintance of the decedent prior to the sharp decline in decedent's health in the last few months of decedent's life, at or about the time the 2011 Will was executed.”

¶ 12 B. DiMatteo's Relationship With Golly

¶ 13 From the time DiMatteo purchased his farm property in Minnesota, Golly rented it from DiMatteo. During his visits to Minnesota, DiMatteo became friends with Golly and his family, and often stayed with the Golly family. DiMatteo spent multiple summers in Minnesota and stayed rent-free in a house occupied by Golly and his family.

¶ 14 Over the course of the time that DiMatteo spent in Minnesota, he became close with Golly and his family, and the Gollys treated DiMatteo as a member of their family. DiMatteo also became close with Golly's grandson, Thomas McIntosh Golly,² and DiMatteo frequently played with Golly's grandson and gave him gifts. DiMatteo regularly asked Golly and his family, including Golly's son Todd Golly, for assistance with various projects and needs. Some of these needs required traveling from Minnesota to Illinois to assist DiMatteo with medical issues, including taking DiMatteo to the hospital and to healthcare providers.

¶ 15 At various times, DiMatteo informed Golly that he intended to include Golly in his will because of their long and close friendship, because of the kindness and assistance Golly and his family had provided him over the years, and because he was not close with his own family. In or about April 2010, DiMatteo suffered a stroke. He contacted Golly and requested that Golly travel from Minnesota to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois, where DiMatteo was hospitalized. Golly provided DiMatteo with any assistance DiMatteo requested, including settling DiMatteo in his residence after he was discharged from the hospital. On or about April 26, 2010, DiMatteo executed the 2010 will, naming Golly as executor and leaving his entire estate to Golly, or, in the event that Golly did not survive DiMatteo by 30 days, to Golly's grandson. Golly had no involvement in the preparation of the 2010 will, nor did he encourage DiMatteo to include him or any of his family members in the will. DiMatteo also appointed Golly his agent under a power of attorney for healthcare decision making. “At some point thereafter,” DiMatteo gave Golly a copy of the 2010 will and told Golly that he had given him the power of attorney over his healthcare. DiMatteo informed Golly that he had provided for him because of the close friendship DiMatteo had with Golly and his family, “who had done so much for him over the years.”

¶ 16 C. Eastman's Influence on DiMatteo

¶ 17 DiMatteo's health continued to decline following his April 2010 stroke, and “sharply declined in the last few months of his life, from March [2011] until his death on June 14, 2011.” The petition further states that, on information and belief, DiMatteo suffered from additional strokes, which physically weakened him, and suffered from leukemia, which was in its end stages in March 2011. DiMatteo's emotional and mental condition and stability declined along with his physical condition. As a result, the petition concluded that DiMatteo was “increasingly dependent on others and vulnerable to the influence of others.”

¶ 18 In March 2011, DiMatteo purchased a house in Blue Earth, Minnesota, near Winnebago. DiMatteo asked Golly to help him move from his Riverside residence to Minnesota, and Golly agreed to help. Golly had recently undergone knee replacement surgery, so he enlisted the help of Eastman, one of his farmhands. On March 12, 2011, Golly, his son, and Eastman drove to DiMatteo's Riverside residence to pack up his belongings. The petition further alleges that, on information and belief, prior to this trip, Eastman and DiMatteo had only been casual acquaintances, having met at Golly's farm when DiMatteo was residing there and Eastman was working there.

¶ 19 “By March 2011, [DiMatteo] was obviously weakened and depressed and it was clear that his health was failing and that he was dying. Eastman then began to exploit [DiMatteo's] vulnerability and undertook to secure a position of trust and confidence with [DiMatteo].” Eastman “pursued a course of conduct to undermine the friendship and trust that existed between [DiMatteo] and [Golly], to make false statements about [Golly] to [DiMatteo], to cast [Golly] in a disparaging light and to make [Golly] appear to be an unworthy recipient of [DiMatteo's] estate,” while simultaneously portraying “himself and his family as victims of [Golly]'s greed and exploititive [ sic ] conduct and to insinuate himself into a position of trust with [DiMatteo]” for the purpose of using his new position of trust to create “an estrangement and loss of trust between [DiMatteo] and [Golly], and to influence [DiMatteo] to include Eastman in his will.”

¶ 20 Golly alleges that Eastman made “repeated false statements about [Golly] to [DiMatteo], calculated to undermine [Golly's] character and trustworthiness in [DiMatteo's] eyes,” which characterized Golly as greedy and Eastman and his family as victims of Golly's greed. These statements caused DiMatteo to resent Golly. Eastman intended for these statements to convince DiMatteo to change his estate plan to...