Angela Holtswarth v. Eric M. Oliver, Personal Representative for the Estate of Darryl Lee Cook

Summary

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Angela Holtswarth’s petition to determine heirship in the unsupervised estate of Darryl Lee Cook. The court held that Indiana Code section 29-1-17-15.1 did not require a hearing because Cook’s will had been offered and admitted to probate. It also held that, because Holtswarth was over twenty when Cook died and paternity had not been established during Cook’s lifetime, she did not satisfy Indiana Code section 29-1-2-7.

Holdings

1. Indiana Code section 29-1-17-15.1 does not require the trial court to set a hearing when a will has been offered for probate and probated, because the statute applies only when no general administration has commenced and no will has been offered for probate within five months after the decedent's death.
2. Under Indiana Code section 29-1-2-7(b), a child who was at least twenty years old when the putative father died must have established paternity in a cause of action filed during the father's lifetime; an adult over twenty cannot establish paternity posthumously within five months of the father's death under subsection (b)(2).
3. The constitutional and public-policy arguments were waived because Holtswarth raised them for the first time on appeal, including her equal-protection argument.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Indiana Code section 29-1-17-15.1 required the trial court to set a hearing on Holtswarth's petition to determine heirship.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying reconsideration after interpreting Indiana Code section 29-1-2-7 to preclude an adult over twenty from establishing paternity for inheritance purposes after the putative father's death.
3. Whether Holtswarth's constitutional and public-policy challenges to the age limitations were preserved for appellate review.

Disposition

affirmed