CIBC National Trust Company, et al. v. Patrick Lawler Dominick

Jackson, Wyoming probate lawyers represented the parties in a right of succession to property dispute seeking a declaratory judgment.



[¶3] On November 4, 2013, Julie Ann Bell and Patrick Dominick purchased a home in

Teton County, Wyoming. That day, prior to closing on the purchase, they executed a

Tenants-In-Common Agreement (TIC Agreement). The TIC Agreement began with the

following recitals:

1. The Owners have, simultaneous with the

execution of this Agreement, each acquired a Fifty Percent

(50%) undivided interest as tenants-in-common in and to that

certain real property located at [address omitted] (the

"Property”).

2. The Owners each own their respective interest in

the Property as tenants-in-common, and wish to define their

respective rights and responsibilities with respect to the

Property, as well as terms necessary to ensure the proper and

orderly management and operation of the Property during the

period of the Owners' co-ownership.

3. The Owners each wish to establish an orderly

process by which they will dissolve their interests in the

Property, should one or both Owners die, breach this

Agreement or otherwise wish to disengage from their coownership of the Property.

[¶4] The TIC Agreement further provided:



3. Status of Owners' Relationship. Each Owner

acknowledges that it is his/her intention to hold the Property as

tenants-in-common and that they have expressly elected not to

become partners, and that neither this Agreement nor any

provision hereof shall be interpreted so as to impose a

partnership at either law or equity upon the Owners.

Accordingly, except as specifically set forth herein, no Owner

shall have any liability for the debt or obligation of any other

Owner.

* * *

5. Right of First Refusal and Sale of the

Property.

* * *

b. Buy-Sell Provision. In the event that . . .

the other Owner passes away, then in any such case, either

Owner (including the Executor or successor-in-interest of a

deceased Owner) shall have the right to dissolve the tenancy in

common and compel the sale of the Property, after such Owner

(the "Dissolving Owner”) has first offered to buy the other

Owner's interest in the Property . . . .

(Emphasis in original.)

[¶5] When Ms. Bell and Mr. Dominick closed on the purchase later that day, they

accepted a warranty deed for the property, which described their ownership as "joint

tenants with rights of survivorship.” The warranty deed was recorded the next day, on

November 5, 2013.

[¶6] Ms. Bell died in August 2015, and in October 2015, Mr. Dominick recorded an

affidavit of survivorship. The TIC Agreement was not recorded during Ms. Bell's lifetime,

but in March 2016, an attorney for her estate's executor recorded it.

[¶7] Mr. Dominick and CIBC National Trust Company, the executor of Ms. Bell's estate,

disputed which document governed ownership of the property, the warranty deed or the

TIC Agreement. CIBC filed for declaratory judgment that the TIC Agreement governed,

and also asserted claims for breach of contract or partition. On appeal, CIBC summarized

the three counts of its complaint as follows:



(1) Count 1 for declaratory judgment that [the Estate] and Mr.

Dominick hold the Property as tenants-in-common; that Mr.

Dominick's Affidavit of Survivorship should be stricken from

the land records; and that the TIC Agreement is a valid and

enforceable contract governing the parties' rights and

responsibilities with respect to the Property; (2) Count II for

breach of the TIC Agreement by Mr. Dominick for refusing the

Estate's offer pursuant to the TIC Agreement to purchase his

50% interest in the Property, and seeking an order that Mr.

Dominick specifically perform the terms of the TIC

Agreement, particularly with regard to its Buy-Sell provisions;

and (3) Count III, in the alternative to specific performance,

that the Property be partitioned

Affirmed.