IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF OSAGE COUNTY, STATE OF OKLAHOMA
In the Matter of the Estate of )
) Case No. PB-2022-88
FRANCIS SCOTT SIMPSON, Deceased )
ORDER APPROVING FINAL ACCOUNTING, SUSTAINING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART CERTAIN CLAIMS OF CREDITORS, AND DECREE DISTRIBUTING THE ESTATE AND DISCHARGING PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE
This matter comes on for hearing this 24th day of October, 2022, pursuant to a sworn-to Final Accounting and Application for Decree Distributing the Estate and Discharging Personal Representative filed with this Court by Erin M. Powell, Personal Representative of the Decedent’s Estate, on the 3rd day of October, 2022, and the Court proceeded to examine the Personal Representative’s Final Accounting and Application, and after inquiry of the attorney for the Personal Representative, examination of the pleadings on file herein, and there being no objections, the Court finds, adjudges and decrees:
1. That due and legal notice of the time and place of this hearing on the Final Accounting and Application for Decree Distributing the Estate and Discharging Personal Representative filed herein on the 3rd day of October, 2022 has been given in the manner, form and for the full time as required by law and the Order of this Court.
2. Francis Scott Simpson died on the 18th day of December, 2021, while a resident of Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The Decedent was a judicially determined lineal heir at law of his mother, Mary Louise Powell, a member of the Osage Nation, and died leaving certain Osage headright interests and related cash royalties judicially distributed to him in the estate proceedings adjudicated in the Estate of Mary Louise Powell, PB-2021-22, District Court of Osage County, Oklahoma. The Decedent died an unmarried person. The names, ages, and last known addresses of the heirs of the Decedent at the time of his death were and are:
NAME / RELATIONSHIP/AGE / ADDRESSES
Erin M. Powell / Surviving Sister (Adult) / [REDACTED]
Alan Austin Powell / Surviving Brother (Adult) / [REDACTED]
Aubrey Nicole Powell / Surviving Niece (Adult) / [REDACTED]
The COURT FURTHER FINDS and re-affirms that the Decedent died unmarried, left no issue, and left no parents. His only heirs-at-law, as set forth above, are the issue of his mother, Mary Louise Powell, by right of representation, and the estate should therefore be distributed in equal shares pursuant to Title 84 O.S. Section 213 (B) (2) (c).
3. That on the 11th day of July, 2022, the Probate Court ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Letters of Administration be issued to Erin M. Powell, as Personal Representative of said estate, to serve without bond, and the same were issued and filed with the Probate Court on the same date.
4. That a GENERAL INVENTORY AND APPRAISEMENT was filed herein by the Personal Representative on the 22nd day of September, 2022, that the GENERAL INVENTORY AND APPRAISEMENT should have been filed according to Title 58 O.S. Section 281 on or before the 12th day of September, 2022, that no prejudice is known to the Personal Representative to have occurred to any interested party in the estate as a result of the late filing, and in the absence of any objection thereto, and for good cause shown, said filing of the GENERAL INVENTORY AND APPRAISEMENT is APPROVED.
5. That the Estate of Francis Scott Simpson, deceased, consists ONLY of restricted Osage Indian property more properly described as follows:
a) Headright Interest, and
b) Cash on hand in an IIM Account
6. That an Oklahoma estate tax return was not filed with the Oklahoma Tax Commission because the Decedent died on or after January 1, 2010. The Estate of Francis Scott Simpson was of insufficient size to require the filing of a Federal Estate Tax Return. All other federal, state, county, school and municipal taxes, including income taxes, have been paid, if owed, or are otherwise provided for.
7. That due and lawful notice to the creditors of Francis Scott Simpson has been given for the time and in the manner provided by law; that prior to giving the required notice, the Personal Representative made a diligent search and inquiry of the heirs-at-law and other interested parties in an effort to determine the identity and nature of any claim against the Estate of Francis Scott Simpson, that all claims of every kind and character, chargeable to the estate, if any, have been paid in full, satisfied and discharged from private funds (and not from estate funds); and that all other expenses and claims that were not presented are now barred by the statute of limitation in effect under the laws of the State of Oklahoma. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, there is also before the Court a pending Petition for Approval of Creditor’s Claim (of Claimant Wagoner Community Hospital) and a pending Petition for Approval of Creditor’s Claim (of Claimant Saint Francis Hospital), both filed herein on the 16th day of September, 2022, to which the Personal Representative has timely answered in objection in each instance setting for jurisdictional defenses, briefing with legal citations, and praying that their respective claims be adjudged to be outside of the Court’s jurisdiction, and/or that their respective petitions state claims for which the Court cannot grant relief, all according to long-settled law. By the signatures of the undersigned counsel, and the Court being further advised by counsel for the Personal Representative, the Court SUSTAINS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART the two petitions, to-wit: The respective petitions are SUSTAINED as to the amounts claimed in each petition but are DENIED as to any claim of attachment to property of the estate which is part of the restricted Osage headright interests and related cash proceeds thereof. There being no other asset of the estate, as represented in the General Inventory and Appraisement, the result of today’s order only approves attachment to property of the Decedent’s estate that may be later discovered, unless that later discovered property is also determined to be a restricted Osage interest.
8. That the Estate of Francis Scott Simpson, deceased, is ready for closing:
a. All income has been properly received and expenses lawfully made,
b. All allowed and approved claims have been paid, or claims have been privately paid without the use of estate funds and there are no creditor’s claims outstanding;
c. All funeral expenses, taxes and costs of the administrator have been paid;
d. That all remaining interests of the Estate should be to all distributees according to the laws of intestate succession.
9. That all purposes of administration have been fully and faithfully fulfilled; that the Personal Representative has performed all acts and duties lawfully required, and the Estate of Francis Scott Simpson is now ready for closing and distribution.
10. That the Personal Representative has made no personal profit from the Estate of Francis Scott Simpson.
11. That the Personal Representative herein waives the statutory fee.
12. That pursuant to the Oklahoma laws of intestate succession the Decedent’s Estate should be distributed in equal shares as follows:
NAME / INTESTATE DISTRIBUTION
Erin M. Powell / 1/3 interest
Alan Austin Powell / 1/3 interest
Aubrey Nicole Powell / 1/3 interest
13. That the Final Accounting and Application for Distributing the Estate and Discharging Personal Representative filed herein on the 3rd day of October, 2022 is DULY APPROVED AND SUSTAINED.
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, It is therefore Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed by the Court that due and legal notice of the time and place of this hearing on the Final Accounting and Application for Distributing the Estate and Discharging Personal Representative filed herein on the 3rd day of October, 2022 has been given by Erin M. Powell, the Personal Representative, in the manner, form and for the full time as required by law and the Order of this Court, and the Court so finds, adjudges and decrees.
It is FURTHER Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed by the Court that notice to creditors as required by law was given by the Personal Representative, and that all claims which were not lawfully submitted within the time permitted for the presentation of claims are hereby nonsuited, void and forever barred.
It is Further Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed by the Court that the Final Accounting filed on the 3rd day of October, 2022, is approved without objection.
It is Further Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed that the Personal Representative should be entitled to receive her discharge without further hearing or notice upon filing final report to the court verifying that the entire estate has been distributed, and all other duties of her administration have been completed, and upon the filing of said final report she shall be automatically discharged and have no further duties or obligations with regard to the Decedent’s estate in all respects.
It is Further Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed by the Court that the Personal Representative should be and is hereby required and directed to distribute and deliver to all distributees, as hereinbefore set forth, their proper distributive share.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order Approving Final Accounting and Application for Distributing the Estate and Discharging Personal Representative may by itself be relied upon to pass title to, and vest interests in, all such distributed interests. Furthermore, this Order may be relied upon to distribute title to, and vest interests in, the rest, residue and remainder of the Decedent’s assets, including all subsequently discovered assets.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the attorney’s fees in the amount of [REDACTED] are hereby approved and ordered paid to be paid to Steven L. Holcombe, Attorney at Law, with a report back to the Court by the Personal Representative as to the satisfaction of all said fees and costs prior to discharge.
DATED this 24th day of October, 2022.
The Honorable Stuart Tate
THE HONORABLE STUART TATE
Judge of the District Court
APPROVED:
______________________________ ______________________________
Steven L. Holcombe, OBA #4287 Rick A. Folluo, OBA #3010
Attorney for Personal Representative Attorney for Claimants
Wagoner Community Hospital & Saint Francis Hospital