Preview:

STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


In re JOHN W. AND LEONA M. WETZEL REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST.

ALAN CLEVENGER, Petitioner-Appellee, v MELISSA McCRORY, Respondent-Appellant.

UNPUBLISHED July 19, 2005

No. 254504 Jackson Probate Court LC No. 00-000086-TV

Before: Fitzgerald, P.J., and Meter and Owens, JJ. PER CURIAM. Respondent appeals by right the probate court order removing respondent as joint successor trustee of her parents' joint trust. We affirm. This case involves a dispute between siblings named as joint successor trustees of their parents' joint trust. Petitioner filed two petitions with the probate court where the trust was registered -- one to reopen the trust file and one to remove respondent as co-trustee -- after respondent transferred real estate from the joint trust to her mother's individual trust and then to her son and daughter-in-law without consideration. Respondent filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the probate court lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition, that petitioner failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted, and that the request was barred by the arbitration provision of the joint trust. The trial court denied respondent's motion to dismiss and granted the petition to remove respondent as joint successor trustee. Respondent first asserts that the probate court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider the petition. Statutory interpretation and a determination whether subject matter jurisdiction exists are questions of law reviewed de novo on appeal. In re Haque, 237 Mich App 295, 299; 602 NW2d 622 (1999). "Probate courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Const 1963, art 6,

Download IN RE JOHN W AND LEONA M WETZEL REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST.pdf

Michigan Law