Shortly before Joe Parker died, he transferred, in conjunction with his wife, multiple properties to his son personally as well as a business entity set up by the son. But there was a problem, there were multiple children from a previous marriage who felt cheated by their sibling so they filed suit to overturn the inter vivos transfer. While doing so, the estate of their father was never named as a party which was focused solely on their stepbrother and the court threw out the suit with prejudice. On appeal in Parker v. Parker, the court held that the estate was not an indispensable party to this suit since the property had been conveyed away before the estate came into existence. As a result, the estate has no interest in the dispute even though it may be a beneficiary if the suit is successful and the property is returned. This case is a good example of how property ownership at the time of death dictates who must be part of a suit when disputing a transfer.
See Brian Spiro, Decedent’s Estate Held Not To Be An Indispensable Party, Clark Skatoff, February 24, 2016.
