Drinkard and Dolbare v. Perry, et al., [Ms. SC-2022-0700; SC-2022-0701, Dec. 2, 2022] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2022). In Case No. SC-2022-0700, the Court (Bolin, J.; Parker, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Bryan, Mendheim, Stewart, and Mitchell, JJ., concur; Sellers, J., concurs in the result) affirms the Choctaw Circuit Court’s order denying Matthew C. Drinkard’s and Jefferson Blane Dolbare’s motion to intervene in the administration of the estate of Milton Turner, deceased.
Drinkard and Dolbare argued they were entitled to intervene as of right based on their interest as purchasers under a January 25, 2019, real-estate sales contract, Ms. **32-33, but failed to cite in their appellate brief “any authority indicating that a real-estate sales contract conveys to the potential purchaser an interest in the property....” Ms. *33. The Court holds in any event “[t]he purchasers did not file their motion to intervene ... until December 14, 2020, nearly 19 months after any potential interest in the contested property had already expired.” Ms. **35-37.
In Case No. SC-2022-0701, the Court (Bolin, J.; Parker, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Bryan, Mendheim, Stewart, and Mitchell, JJ., concur; Sellers, J., concurs in the result) dismisses the appeal and reiterates:
Based on the principles set forth in Allen [v. Estate of Juddine, 60 So. 3d 852 (Ala. 2010)], the administration of Turner’s estate was a single and continuous proceeding over which [following removal] the circuit court had exclusive jurisdiction in circuit-court case number CV-19-900010, and the probate of Turner’s alleged will could not be split from that proceeding….
Therefore, the probate court did not have jurisdiction over White and Amanda’s petition to probate Turner’s alleged will (probate-court case number A-2020-05422) and its December 9, 2020, order purporting to admit Turner’s alleged will to probate was a nullity.
Further, because the probate court had no jurisdiction over White and Amanda’s petition to probate Turner’s alleged will, the circuit court’s December 18, 2020, order purporting to remove probate-court case number A-2020-05422 and to create circuit-court case number CV-20-000011 was also a nullity....
Ms. **26-28.