Traylor v. Kraft

552 P.3d 351

2024 WY 74

Chadwick R. TRAYLOR, Appellant (Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant),

v.Kevin J. KRAFT; Davina M. Green; David W. Green and Brian Dandurand, Appellees (Defendants/Counterclaim Plaintiffs).

Chadwick R. Traylor, Appellant (Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant),

v.Davina M. Green; David W. Green and Brian Dandurand, Appellees (Defendants/Counterclaim Plaintiffs),

S-23-0257, S-23-0258

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

July 16, 2024

Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County, The Honorable Kerri M. Johnson, Judge

Representing Appellant: Jason M. Tangeman, Nicholas & Tangeman, LLC, Laramie, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee Kevin J. Kraft: Ryan P. Healy, Healy Law Firm, LLC, Sheridan, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee Davina and David Green: Richard R. Wilking, Richard R. Wilking Law Office, Casper, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee Brian Dandurand: Tara B. Nethercott, Crowley Fleck PLPP, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Before FOX, C.J., and BOOMGAARDEN, GRAY, FENN and JAROSH, JJ,

FOX, Chief Justice.

[¶1] Chadwick R. Traylor sued individuals named as beneficiaries under his father’s trust. He sought to have the trust set aside based on allegations that certain defendants exerted undue influence on his father, causing him to amend his trust. Following a bench trial, the district court denied Mr. Traylor’s claims and ruled that the trust’s nocontest clause was enforceable against him. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶2] Mr. Traylor presents four issues that we rephrase as follows:

1. Did the district court err in striking Mr. Traylor’s jury demand?

2. Did the district court apply the correct burden of proof when it denied Mr. Traylor’s undue influence claims?

3. Did the district court err in concluding the trust’s no-contest clause was enforceable against Mr. Traylor?

4. Did the district court err in its award of costs?

FACTS

[¶3] This appeal stems from a challenge to the testamentary trust of Donald R. Traylor ("Doc"), who died in August 2021.¹ He had one adult son, Chadwick Traylor, and two grandchildren. Doc and his son were estranged. The last time Mr. Traylor was in Doc’s physical presence was in 2014 for approximately one hour, and the last time Doc saw his grandchildren was in 2007.

[¶4] Doc was a chiropractic doctor in Casper, Wyoming until he retired in 2006. After his retirement, he purchased a home in Florida where he typically lived in the fall and winter months, returning to Casper for the spring and summer months. In Florida, Doc became friends with his neighbors, Tami and Shannon White, and in early 2019, he asked them for assistance with, and recommendations for, his estate plan. The Whites referred him to their estate planning attorney, and Doc executed a revocable trust that named Chadwick Traylor and Shannon White as successor co-trustees. That trust was amended five months later to add and change certain bequests, but the bequests to Mr. Traylor and his children remained the same, and Mr. Traylor remained a successor trustee.

[¶5] In June 2019, the Whites drove Doc back to Casper. While the Whites were in Casper, Tami White introduced herself to Doc’s neighbor, Davina Green, and asked her if she would walk Doc’s dog, Sophie, and keep an eye on Doc, and Ms. Green agreed. Doc paid Ms. Green to walk Sophie and grew close to both Ms. Green and her husband, David.

[¶6] Around this time, Doc met Brian Dandurand. Doc’s handyman in Casper, Rusty Hessler, called Mr. Dandurand to assist with unloading Doc’s furniture from Florida and introduced him to Doc. They had to wait eight to nine hours for the moving truck to arrive, and during that time Doc and Mr. Dandurand got to know each other. Their relationship continued to grow after that, and Doc came to rely on Mr. Dandurand as his handyman.

[¶7] In October 2019, Mr. Dandurand drove Doc to Florida for the winter, and in June 2020, he flew to Florida and drove Doc back to Casper. On Doc’s 2020 return to Casper, the Greens resumed caring for Sophie and checking in on Doc, and Mr. Dandurand continued to be his handyman.

[¶8] In August 2020, Ms. Green checked on Doc and found that he had fallen and was unable to get up. Doc was hospitalized for five days and was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer. While the cancer was treatable, and treatment could extend his life, Doc declined treatment for the cancer.

[¶9] When Doc was discharged from the hospital, he required 24/7 care, and Ms. Green suggested he engage Mel’s Helping Hands (MHH), a company owned by Melody and Kevin Kraft. Doc did so, but he soon required significantly less assistance from MHH as his ability to care for himself improved. The Greens and Mr. Dandurand and his family also became more involved in helping Doc with his daily living needs.

[¶10] Shortly after MHH began providing services to Doc, he informed Ms. Kraft that he would like to discuss his finances and make changes to the estate plan he had had prepared in Florida. Ms. Kraft asked her husband to meet with Doc because he had a background in finance. During that meeting, Doc gave Mr. Kraft the impression he had assets and investments in excess of ten million dollars. Doc informed Mr. Kraft that the estate plan he had prepared in Florida was not what he wanted, and he asked Mr. Kraft to obtain a copy of it.

[¶11] Mr. Kraft obtained a copy of the estate plan and instructed Cheryl Wallace, one of Doc’s favorite MHH caregivers, to go through the plan with Doc. He did not instruct Ms. Wallace to have Doc make any changes. Ms. Wallace met alone with Doc in his home and made handwritten changes to the documents as Doc directed. Mr. Kraft forwarded the estate plan with the handwritten changes to a financial planner, who then contacted attorney Harry Durham. Mr. Durham agreed to assist Doc in revising his estate plan.

[¶12] Because Doc could no longer drive, Mr. Kraft drove him to his first meeting with Mr. Durham in October 2020. Mr. Durham did not know Mr. Kraft, and although Mr. Kraft sat in on their meeting, he only spoke, according to Mr. Durham, when Doc asked him if he would act as successor trustee and if a fee of $150,000 would be adequate for his service in that role. Mr. Kraft agreed to serve as successor trustee and responded that the fee was adequate.

[¶13] Mr. Durham revised Doc’s estate plan and met with him in November 2020 to review the revised documents. Mr. Kraft again drove Doe to Mr. Durham’s office, but Mr. Durham asked him to wait in another room while he and Doc reviewed the documents. They spent approximately an hour reviewing the documents, with Doc reading each document. Mr. Durham had no concerns with Doc’s ability to understand the documents, and at the conclusion of the meeting, Doc executed the documents, including a pour-over will and the Second Amendment and Restated Donald R. Traylor Revocable Trust (Second Amended Trust), both of which were in effect at the time of his death.

[¶14] Under the terms of the Second Amended Trust Mr. Traylor and his children remained beneficiaries, but at a reduced level. Their original bequest of $200,000 each was reduced to $100,000 each, and the one-third residual interest each was originally bequeathed was reduced to 10.58%. The Second Amended Trust otherwise left various amounts to several of Doc’s friends, including Mr. Dandurand and the Greens. The Second Amended Trust left Mr. Dandurand $200,000 and a 21.6% residual interest in the trust proceeds. It left the same to the Greens and named Ms. Green trustee of a $100,000 pet trust with an individual gift to her of $20,000. Mr. Kraft was not a beneficiary under Doc’s will or the Second Amended Trust but was named executor and successor trustee for which he was to receive the agreed-upon $150,000 fee.

[¶15] Ms. Wallace became concerned that the Krafts only cared about Doc’s money and resigned from her position with MHH. In February 2021, her husband reported a suspected exploitation of a vulnerable adult to the Wyoming Department of Family Services, and that report was forwarded to the Casper Police Department Detective Shannon Daley investigated and spoke with Doc. She concluded no evidence supported the suspicion and that Doc was "very well taken care of, articulate, and aware of what he was doing and how his funds were being used."

[¶16] Doc died August 13, 2021. His trust held property totaling approximately $4,000,000, including a Florida home, a Casper home, a mountain home in Natrona County, vehicles, and financial accounts

[¶17] On January 3, 2022, Mr. Traylor filed a complaint against Mr. Kraft, the Greens, and Mr. Dandurand (collectively Defendants) alleging they exercised undue influence on Doc, which caused him to change his will and trust and to make inter vivos transfers of money and property to them. Mr. Traylor sought to have the Second Amended Trust set aside on this ground and on the ground that Doc was incompetent to execute the instruments.² Mr. Traylor named the other beneficiaries under Doc’s will and trust, except his children, as W.R.C.P. 19(a)(2) defendants, but he made no allegations of undue influence against them. On January 3, Mr. Traylor also filed a jury demand, but he did not serve the demand on Defendants until June 3, 2022.

[¶18] In March 2022, Defendants separately filed amended answers and counterclaimed for enforcement of the Second Amended, Trust’s no-contest clause. Mr. Traylor filed his answers to the counterclaims on March 24 and 28. Only two of the seven Rule 19 defendants filed responsive pleadings. Lilia Howard responded on April 19, 2022, and Tami White responded on March 15, 2023.

[¶19] When the district court prepared its initial pretrial schedule, it set a jury trial. However, during an initial pretrial and scheduling conference held on June 1, 2022, the court learned Defendants believed the trial was to be a bench trial. The court kept the matter set as a jury trial with the understanding that Defendants would be filing objections, which the court would consider.

[¶20] On June 3, 2022, Mr....