Appellate Law

Where Record Contains No Indication of Proper Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Order Appealed From Was Void and Could Not Support Appellate Review

In Lee v. Oliver, the Court of Civil Appeals dismissed an appeal for want of appellate jurisdiction where the record did not contain any indication of proper jurisdiction in the circuit court.   

Lee was an appeal from a will contest between the wife and daughters of the decedent.  On the daughter's appeal from the circuit court's order holding that the will was not valid, the record contained no evidence supporting subject matter jurisdiction in the circuit court.  There was no indication that the purported will had been admitted to probate before the daughters filed their petition contesting the purported will in the circuit court.  Therefore, the circuit court did not acquire jurisdiction over the daughters' will contest pursuant to 48-8-199. 

Moreover, although 48-3-198 provides for the transfer of a will contest proceeding from probate court to circuit court, the record contained no evidence indicating that the daughters had filed a will contest in the probate court before removing to the circuit court the proceeding instituted in the probate court by the widow.  Therefore, the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, the judgment was void and would not support an appeal.  

Full post as published by Alabama Appellate Watch on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).