10.08.2007

Grove's will appealed

The heirs of John and Cora Grove (Founders of JLG and Grove) have appealed a decision by Franklin county court that dismissed their legal action, contesting Cora Groves will, on a technicality.

Cora Grove survived her husband John by two years and thus had the final say in distributing their combined estate estimated at $22 to $25 million.

The seven heirs, Gerald F. Lute, Elaine J. Heiler, Jane A. Thompson, Gail F. Runshaw, Gloria F. Tagnosky, George Heiler and Lori Kramer, filed the lawsuit on their own behalf and on the behalf of four Greencastle-area charities whose bequests were cut in half by a new will signed with an X by Grove only hours before she died.

Their lawsuit challenged the validity of changes to the will claiming that

- Grove was too sick to understand the ramifications of what she was signing;

- A previous will was deliberately withheld from the heirs when they asked for it, soon after the final will was admitted for probate. They were only provided with a copy after the deadline for contesting the will had passed.

In all $1.25 million was cut from the bequests listed in the earlier will, while a bequest to the Capitol theatre was added to repair the theater's ceiling, which had fallen just prior to the change in the will.

The heirs' lawsuit alleged that Groves Lawyer, Martha Walker, as a director and member of the theater, had a special interest in having Grove change her will and adding the bequest.

The judge Paul H. Millin agreed and found that Walker had deceived Grove "absurd," when she had asked Grove to sign a new will the day before she died. However he also noted that the lawsuit was filed two months too late. Wills can be contested in Franklin County for up to a year after probate.

He therefore made the decision that the $250,000 donation to the Capitol theatre and a $450,000 cut from the heirs' inheritance, along with the cuts to other charities bequests, stand.

The Heirs have now appealed to a Superior Court claiming that the lower court erred and that Grove's final "X" constituted forgery. They will also allege fraud and concealment on the part of Walker.