1980

Last will and Testament

In September Grandma Mixson wrote the following in her diary..

The Yawn children haven’t did anything to settle up with me.  I wish they would.  Their Dad said “don’t worry they’ll take care of you better than your own children”.  Here its been two years the 4th day of November that he’s been gone.  Once again I’m beginning to get use to being alone.

Grandma’s second husband, Jesse Yawn, managed all the money affairs while they were married and had put all money that Rosalie had into his account, including the remaining monies that she got from selling the old farm that she and Wilbur raised Dad and his brothers on.  While Dad and his brothers agreed to and did get some money when the farm was sold, there was additional money from the sale.   In Mr. Yawn’s will there was the provision that Rosalie could live in the house as long as she wanted after he died, although the house would not belong to her but rather would go to his sons.  In addition, not only did the house not belong to Rosalie, but much of the contents “belonged to the estate”, i.e. to Mr. Yawns sons now that Mr. Yawn was deceased.  In addition, the will stated  that a trust would be setup with approximately $33,500 to pay Rosalie $200 a month until her death or the funds ran out. 

Now in 1980, two years after Mr. Yawn died,  Rosalie stopped receiving the $200 a month and two of the Yawn brothers said they did not want to wait for Rosalie to die but wanted the contents now.  Rosalie took the case to court which ruled that some of the house contents, “Chest-of-drawers”, all items in “small bedroom”, etc. although belong to the “estate”, “the property shall remain on the premises as per  Mr. Yawn’s will and used by Rosalie during the period of her lifetime.”  Other items, “China closet with dishes”, “dinning room table”, “twelve-gauge shotgun, twenty-to caliber rifle, Smith & Wesson pistol”, and a few others could be picked up from the premises by the sons Harvey Yawn and Jesse Yawn, Jr.  It was interesting that the third son, Billy Yawn, Dad’s long-time friend was not mentioned in the court ruling.

In addition to the property, the court ordered the court to pay Rosalie the $200 a month owed to her from Mr. Yawns death in 1978 to the present, and for the court and attorney fees.  In addition, the three sons, Jesse, Harvey, and Billy were ordered to reimburse Rosalie $1,102.00 for Mr. Yawn’s funeral expenses. It was sad to see that the sons were not even willing to pay for their own father’s funeral expenses. The counterclaim filed by the two sons was “dismissed with prejudice”.  The money due Rosalie was paid to her by Jesse Yawn, Jr. and Harvey Yawn and Jesse Yawn, Jr. started sending the $200 monthly checks to Rosalie.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of it.  Several years later when in 1995, Rosalie again stopped receiving the monthly checks. Jesse Yawn, Jr., who was managed the trust and made the payments to Rosalie died.  My Dad, Morris Mixson, stepped in and helped his mother contact am attorney who sent a letter to Jesse Yawn Jr.’s widow asking for the payments in arrears to “be paid without the necessity of further legal action.”   The lawyer then talked to Jesse Yawn’s sister, who was later added as a co-trustee to the trust, said the only remining funds from the original $33,500 trust was a CD for the amount of $2,480.72 which was in the name of Jesse Yawn, Jr, and his widow. The widow was asked to liquidate the CD and pay the funds to Rosalie.   What happened to the remainder of the trust?  It appears that Jesse Yawn, Jr. had been taking the funds and using it for his own use.   As for accounting of where the money went, the lawyer said…

“Additional, as we discussed, it could be a rather expensive process to provide an accounting for the 14 years that the trust has been in existence. Therefor, as we agreed, we will try to prepare an accounting for the three years that Mrs. Hancock has been a co-trustee.”

Rosalie a few weeks later received most of the CD funds, minus some fees that were claimed.  Rosalie, having no money, could not afford to pay a lawyer to take the matter to court to find out what happened to, and recover the missing trust funds.   Dad paid the $75 lawyer fee for sending the letter and that was the end of the case. Rosalie continued living in the house until 1998, when at the age of 97 moved to an assisted living home.   Through all of this Dad maintained his close relationship with long time friend Billy Yawn who claimed no knowledge of how his brother managed the trust. 

Rosalie Mixson
September 20th, 1980

Been having rain. Broke up the ground out by the flower bed. It is the roughest ground. Maybe I can get Morris to break it over. Mr. Dut went over it but didn't do much good. I planted eight hills of cabbage. Have collards up also, carrots & mustard. The beans are not coming up too good. I have best seed to plant, never could grow beats here tho. Have a few hills of green squash.

Caught a big one