Record No: 160500
(As published by the Virginia Supreme Court)
In litigation concerning the real and personal property of a family matriarch which was transferred to one of her five children, the circuit court did not err in denying a summary judgment motion challenging the decedent’s capacity to convey to one of her daughters her personal property in her personal capacity when she held it as trustee under her revocable trust. Nor did the court err in excluding from evidence certain tax assessment records offered as proof of the value of the decedent’s home, or in striking the plaintiff’s evidence on a claim for civil conspiracy. However, the circuit court did err in excluding from evidence declarations made by matriarch disavowing the property transfers and in granting the motion to strike the executor plaintiffs’ evidence on their claims for undue influence and promissory fraud. Because an award of attorney’s fees to the defendant daughter was based on the ruling in her favor on her motion to strike, that award is vacated. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed in part and reversed in part. This matter is remanded for a new trial consistent with this opinion.
