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In re Estate of Lunsford4/7/2005
Justice NEWBY did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
This appeal concerns the distribution of the estate of Candice Leigh Lunsford (Candice), who died intestate in an automobile accident on 30 June 1999, just nine days after her eighteenth birthday. Petitioner Dawn Collins Bean (Bean), Candice's mother and the administratrix of her estate, contends that Candice's father, respondent Randy Keith Lunsford (Lunsford), wilfully abandoned Candice during Candice's infancy and thus is not entitled to share in her estate under N.C.G.S. § 31A-2 (2003). Lunsford claims that he did not abandon his daughter and that even if he did, he is still entitled to inherit from Candice because he was "deprived of the custody" of Candice by a court of competent jurisdiction and has "substantiallycomplied with all orders of the court requiring contribution to the support of the child" under the meaning of N.C.G.S. § 31A- 2(2).
Bean (then named Dawn Collins) and Lunsford were married on 1 November 1980, and Candice was born on 21 June 1981. The couple separated on 20 November 1982. On 30 January 1985, a Forsyth County district court entered a decree of absolute divorce dissolving the bonds of matrimony between Bean and Lunsford and awarding Bean sole "care, custody and control" of Candice. On 30 June 1999, Candice died intestate in an automobile accident. Bean was named administratrix of the estate. Pursuant to a wrongful death claim filed on behalf of Candice, the proceeds of a $100,000.00 liability insurance policy were tendered to her estate.
On 31 August 1999, Candice's estate sought a hearing before the Clerk of Superior Court of Surry County to determine if Lunsford was legally entitled to share in the distribution of the estate. After hearing and considering the evidence presented, the Clerk concluded that Lunsford was precluded from inheriting from Candice under N.C.G.S. § 31A-2 on the ground that he had wilfully abandoned Candice during her minority.
Lunsford appealed for a trial de novo in Superior Court, which conducted its own evidentiary hearing. Among the evidence introduced at the hearing was Lunsford's admission that he was a diagnosed alcoholic who "got in some trouble" and " asn't ready to grow up" at the time he married Bean. Bean testified that Lunsford visited Candice " o more than four orfive times" between November 1982 and March 1985, "no at all" between March 1985 and 1990 and " aybe five or six times" between 1990 and 1999. She also testified that Lunsford paid her under $100.00 in support over the course of Candice's entire life. The trial court reached the same conclusion as the Clerk of Superior Court in an order filed 3 March 2000.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed, with Chief Judge Eagles dissenting on the ground that N.C.G.S. § 31A-2 should not apply because Candice was not a minor at the time of her death. In re Estate of Lunsford, 143 N.C. App. 646, 547 S.E.2d 483 (2001). On further appeal to this Court, we vacated and remanded for further remand to the trial court for additional findings as to whether Lunsford abandoned Candice and, if so, whether Lunsford "resumed care and maintenance" of Candice at least one year prior to her death or substantially complied "with all orders of the trial court requiring contribution to the support of the child." In re Estate of Lunsford, 354 N.C. 571, 571, 556 S.E.2d 292, 292 (2001).
On remand, the trial court conducted an in-chambers hearing during which the parties stipulated that the court would make additional findings of fact based solely on the transcript recorded at the prior evidentiary hearing. In compliance withthis Court's order, the trial court ma
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