Estate Win, but they appealed, how long...

Kitt Fox

Kitt Fox

New Member
Jurisdiction
Oklahoma
ok, so my REAL mother passed away in June 2018, and i'm sole heir, her only child (Son). i was adopted, but met my real mother when i turned 18, that's when she found me. and we hung out a short time, and i even stayed with her awhile, then i returned to OK to get back to my friends, family. i haven't seen her since (lost contact, etc) until her family contacted me fall of 2018, letting me know she passed, and that i should get involved in trying to get my mom's estate, because these 2 caregiver girls had gotten themselves written into her will, their kids included. and none of them are related. so anyway, i hired an attorney and we went to court and they ended up winning, shutting me out. so my att filed an appeal with OK supreme court, and just now, few weeks ago, they reversed the local and civil court decision, giving it to me. but the other side's Att has now filed an appeal. my att says they didn't add anything new, no new evidence or anything, just the same thing they presented in court initially. she feels the supreme court will reject it, but i wanted to get a second opinion.. so my question is, what do you all think my chances are for the supreme court to give it to us again, rejecting their appeal? and no matter the decision, how long does it typically take for state supreme courts to decide on an appeal like this? thanks!
 
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Kitt Fox said:
ok, so my REAL mother passed away in June 2018, and i'm sole heir, her only child (Son). i was adopted, but met my real mother when i turned 18, that's when she found me. and we hung out a short time, and i even stayed with her awhile, then i returned to OK to get back to my friends, family. i haven't seen her since (lost contact, etc) until her family contacted me fall of 2018, letting me know she passed, and that i should get involved in trying to get my mom's estate, because these 2 caregiver girls had gotten themselves written into her will, their kids included. and none of them are related. so anyway, i hired an attorney and we went to court and they ended up winning, shutting me out. so my att filed an appeal with OK supreme court, and just now, few weeks ago, they reversed the local and civil court decision, giving it to me. but the other side's Att has now filed an appeal. my att says they didn't add anything new, no new evidence or anything, just the same thing they presented in court initially. she feels the supreme court will reject it, but i wanted to get a second opinion.. so my question is, what do you all think my chances are for the supreme court to give it to us again, rejecting their appeal? and no matter the decision, how long does it typically take for state supreme courts to decide on an appeal like this? thanks!
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If you want a second opinion have a consult with a local attorney...The wonderful and talented people here don't have access to the necessary documents.

ETA: You insult your REAL mother by referring to your birth mother as your real mother. If your birth mother wanted to be a real mother she would not have placed you for adoption.
 
Kitt Fox said:
so my question is, what do you all think my chances are for the supreme court to give it to us again, rejecting their appeal? and no matter the decision, how long does it typically take for state supreme courts to decide on an appeal like this? thanks!
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Your facts are a little confusing. You said that the other side appealed to the OK Supreme Court and won a reversal in that court. If that's true, then your attorney could not have filed an appeal from the Supreme Court's opinion as the OK Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in OK on state law matters, and probate cases do not involve matters of federal law. If your attorney filed a motion with the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its decision then your attorney is correct that the chances of the Court changing its decision are very low.

If what happened instead is that you lost at the OK Court of Civil Appeals and now your attorney has appealed to the OK Supreme Court then it's a bit of a different situation.
 
Tax Counsel said:
Your facts are a little confusing. You said that the other side appealed to the OK Supreme Court and won a reversal in that court. If that's true, then your attorney could not have filed an appeal from the Supreme Court's opinion as the OK Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in OK on state law matters, and probate cases do not involve matters of federal law. If your attorney filed a motion with the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its decision then your attorney is correct that the chances of the Court changing its decision are very low.

If what happened instead is that you lost at the OK Court of Civil Appeals and now your attorney has appealed to the OK Supreme Court then it's a bit of a different situation.
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sorry for any confusion! ok, after the other side won in the local and civil court
justblue said:
If you want a second opinion have a consult with a local attorney...The wonderful and talented people here don't have access to the necessary documents.

ETA: You insult your REAL mother by referring to your birth mother as your real mother. If your birth mother wanted to be a real mother she would not have placed you for adoption.
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thanks for the advice! an the use of REAL, i was just trying to clarify i was adopted, and this isn't my adopted mother in the case.
 
Tax Counsel said:
Your facts are a little confusing. You said that the other side appealed to the OK Supreme Court and won a reversal in that court. If that's true, then your attorney could not have filed an appeal from the Supreme Court's opinion as the OK Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in OK on state law matters, and probate cases do not involve matters of federal law. If your attorney filed a motion with the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its decision then your attorney is correct that the chances of the Court changing its decision are very low.

If what happened instead is that you lost at the OK Court of Civil Appeals and now your attorney has appealed to the OK Supreme Court then it's a bit of a different situation.
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sorry for any confusion! ok, so initially the other side won her estate, decided by a judge in the local court, and civil. so right after, my Att filed an appeal with local courts, still lost. so she filed appeal with OK supreme court. and now just recent, the supreme court reversed the local court's decision, giving us the win. then the other side's Att filed an appeal to the supreme court on the decision. so now i guess we wait again.. my att said it could be within a few months, or could take up to 6 months or more to get a decision back. so i was trying to get some other input, opinion on how long it might take, and wondering what my chances are. my att doesn't seem to be too worried, but again, i just wanted to get a 2cd opinion, see what you folks thought about it. thanks again!
 
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Kitt Fox said:
sorry for any confusion! ok, so initially the other side won her estate, decided by a judge in the local court, and civil. so right after, my Att filed an appeal with local courts, still lost. so she filed appeal with OK supreme court. and now just recent, the supreme court reversed the local court's decision, giving us the win. then the other side's Att filed an appeal to the supreme court on the decision. so now i guess we wait again.. my att said it could be within a few months, or could take up to 6 months or more to get a decision back. so i was trying to get some other input, opinion on how long it might take, and wondering what my chances are. my att doesn't seem to be too worried, but again, i just wanted to get a 2cd opinion, see what you folks thought about it. thanks again!
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So you won at the Supreme Court and the other side filed for a reconsideration of the decision. In that case, the decision is unlikely to change. Courts rarely change their mind on reconsideration. As to how long it will take, that's not easy to say with the disruptions caused by the covid related closures.
 
Tax Counsel said:
So you won at the Supreme Court and the other side filed for a reconsideration of the decision. In that case, the decision is unlikely to change. Courts rarely change their mind on reconsideration. As to how long it will take, that's not easy to say with the disruptions caused by the covid related closures.
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right on, thanks a bunch! ☮
 
I assume this is the decision of the Oklahoma Supreme Court to which you referred. Correct?

In summary this indicates that you were born in 1962 to a woman named Judith, that Judith gave you up for adoption and that, within days after your birth, you were adopted by two other people.

One thing you should understand is that (except as noted below) this adoption severed any legal relationship between you and Judith. In most states, an adoption like this precludes the child from inheriting from the birth parent unless the birth parent expressly provides for the adopted child in her will. Apparently, however, this is not the case in Oklahoma

The opinion goes on to say that, in 1980, you and Judith reconnected. It says that you lived with her for 6-7 months and then moved and lost contact with her shortly thereafter.

In 2017, Judith started the process of estate planning and then moved in with her caregiver. Judith completed her will in the midst of some significant medical treatment.

The will stated that Judith was a widow who had no children. She expressly excluded other living relatives and left her estate to several individuals, including the caregiver and the caregiver's daughter. Judith died in June 2018.

Following Judith's death, her sister objected that the will was the product of undue influence and that Judith lacked the necessary mental capacity to make a will. You then applied for a share of the estate as a pretermtted child. The court admitted the will but did not decide the issue of your entitlement to a share of the estate. This issue was decided against you in a trial in late 2018. You appealed and lost and then appealed again to the OK Supreme Court.

Surprisingly, the court held (by a 7-2 vote) that it is well-established law that an adopted child can inherit from both his birth parents and his adopted parents. Therefore, in order for you to be excluded from Judith's estate, there needed to be clear evidence that she did not want you to inherit from her estate, and the court held that neither her will nor any other evidence supported such an intent. Accordingly, the court held that you are entitled to the entire estate.

With that in mind:

Kitt Fox said:
the other side's Att has now filed an appeal.
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The only place for "the other side" to appeal at this point is the United States Supreme Court, and one cannot simply "file an appeal" to the U.S. Supreme Court. One must ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, and the Court hears less than 1% of cases that it is asked to hear. The way that such a request is made is by filing a petition for writ of certiorari, and I can find no evidence that any such petition has been filed in your case. Although there is still time for that to happen, I think it is incredibly unlikely since the U.S. Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to overrule a state supreme court on a matter of state law. Unless "the other side" can come up with a constitutional argument here, there appears to be no basis for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perhaps, when you wrote that "the other side's [attorney] has now filed an appeal," you meant that "the other side" has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider its opinion.

Kitt Fox said:
how long does it typically take for state supreme courts to decide on an appeal like this?
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I have no familiarity with courts in Oklahoma. However, in the barely more than two years since Judith died, this case has gone through the trial court and two appeals. That tells me that OK courts move very quickly.
 
adjusterjack said:
Well, I was kinda looking for a dollar value.

The entire estate could be a jar of buttons.
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...after the legal fees...sure. In any case, the OP has chosen to take this fight all the way to the (state) supreme court, and was successful.
 

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