Yates Family Member Says Her Father Was Devastated By Being Cut From Will

Youngest Son Got Double Share, While Eldest Son Was Cut Out Of Huge Estate

  • Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Jennifer Yates Stickley of Lookout Mountain testified Tuesday in a multi-million-dollar will dispute in Walker County Court that her father, Allen Yates, was devastated when he learned soon after the death of his father, Pierce Allen Yates, that he had been cut out of the will.

"It was a painful thing to see," the witness said on the second day of a trial in LaFayette pitting Allen Yates against his half-brother, Brewster Yates, and step-mother, Jo Ann Cline Yates.

Ms.

Stickley, who said she came back to work at the family's Yates Bleachery at Flintstone, Ga., after getting her law degree, said her father was advised that Brewster Yates was given a two-fifth share, while Allen Yates got no share. The other children of Pierce Allen Yates - Piercie Yates and two daughters - got one-fifth shares. However, those funds do not go to the children until the death of Jo Ann Cline Yates, who in the meantime has an income from the $15 million marital trust. They noted that Jo Ann Cline Yates also received $5.5 million in a joint bank account.

Ms. Stickley and one of the daughters, Laura "Lolly" Yates Sykes, said the elder Yates had always intended to leave his large estate to the children on an equal basis without any type of trust.

However, defense attorney Skip Patty said the strong-willed Mr. Yates had cut Piercie Yates out of his will for 10 years, once cut out one of the daughters after she displeased him, including joining a peace movement while in college, and also omitted a disfavored grandchild.

Ms. Stickley said when she returned to work at the mill that Brewster Yates was over dealings with customers and chemicals, while her father was in charge of the finances and maintenance. She said Brewster Yates was not allowed involvement in the finances and could not have a company credit card. She said he was often gone from the plant and was given a cell phone so he could be found when needed at the plant. She said Brewster Yates "would stir up trouble" at the mill.

She said her grandfather would yell and curse at both sons from time to time at the plant. She said he eventually gave up his stock and it went 50-50 to the two sons. She said there was a clause in the stocks that they should remain within the Yates line.

Ms. Stickley said when she went with her father to meet with attorney Virginia Love four days after her grandfather's death that Allen Yates still believed he was co-executor and included in the will with an equal share. She said attorney Love greeted them, saying, "I want to keep this situation calmed down." She said Ms. Love said she "had begged" Pierce Allen Yates not to cut out Allen, but he insisted.

She said the attorney said that Brewster Yates had stated that Allen Yates "had called Jo Anne a whore." Ms. Stickley said Allen denied that, though he said he had heard her called "the whore from Lakeshore" and "the black widow."

Ms. Stickley said in her grandfather's last days one issue was that he was upset that her sister, Allison, had not been bringing her triplet boys up to see him. She said Allison did not want the boys to remember him in his declining condition with prostate and bone cancer. She said that issue also brought tension toward her and her parents.

She said her father did get $100,000 in the will. She said that was "a legal maneuver. Leave somebody a pittance and they can't sue."

In an opening statement, attorney David Cunningham said an extra-marital affair by Brewster Yates was one of the central issues in the case. He said he needed money after the ensuing divorce and after he said he "went through $120,000 he had gotten from his mother."

Brewster Yates, quizzed by attorney Bobby Lee Cook, admitted the affair. He said he had married his wife, Lee Ann "Boofie" Hoover, from Tyler, Tex., and they eloped to Venezuela and later had two children. He acknowledged he began an affair in 2004 with the wife of a close friend - a mother of three children. He said his wife later confronted him after finding a bottle of Viagra in his car. He admitted that he lied to her, his father and others that there was no affair. He said he had to come clean when a friend, Brad Cobb, called him and said, "The gig's up. They've got a tape of you having sex." 

Brewster Yates said, on the advice of his father, he put an illegal wiretap on his wife's phone to see if she was having an affair too. He said it turned up no evidence that she was.

He said he was told by Lee Ann that she had heard from  the daughter and wife of Allen Yates that his father had abandoned his first family. Pierce Allen Yates was married three times - having Allen and the two girls by his first wife, Jean; and Piercie and Brewster by his second wife, Barbara. The first marriage ended in divorce and the second wife died.

Brewster Yates said he asked his father if that was true and he put down his head, saying he had not had much time for them.

He said three weeks after his father died he and Allen had "a big talk" that he later learned had been secretly taped by Allen. He said he admitted he had briefly been on Prozac and said at one point, "I am a temperamental a--hole."

Brewster Yates said, "My brother had just said that I had stolen his inheritance. I had taken years and years of abuse from Allen and I finally stood up to him."

He claimed that Allen had interfered in his divorce negotiations. He said attorney Patty told him at the end of a mediation session in Dalton that the opposing lawyer, Chris Townley, said, "Allen told Lee Ann the mill was worth more than he was offering."

Under questioning from attorney Cook, he acknowledged that Jo Ann Cline Yates at one point said, "I want it all." He said she was referring to getting the inheritance outright instead of through a trust.

Brewster Yates said of the division of the huge estate, "I don't want what's not mine. I know it's not up to me. It's up to that woman (Jo Ann Cline Yates) over there." The will is set up so that Ms. Yates has the authority to allow Allen Yates to have a share instead of being cut out if she so decides.

Ms. Sykes of Durham, N.C., one of the Pierce Allen Yates daughters, said she had a pleasant upbringing at Flintstone despite the break-up of her parents. She said her mother eventually moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., but she often returned to Flintstone. She said her father sent money to the family even after her mother died. She said she and her sister and brother got $5,000 each when her mother died. She said Allen Yates returned his $5,000 check to her.

She said of her father, "For him, everything revolved around the mill. That was his life."

Ms. Sykes said she was glad her father was dating again after the death of his second wife. But she said after he had married Jo Ann Cline and moved into the Walter Cline mansion on Lookout Mountain that her relationship was chilly with the new wife. She said she and her sister came for Christmas, but the new Ms. Yates informed them, "We won't be doing this again. You are the reason it took so long" for their father to agree to marry her. Ms. Sykes said, "I was totally taken aback. I was speechless."

She said Ms. Yates said, "I don't believe in trust funds and I don't have one."

She said on one occasion she was with Ms. Yates at the Fairyland Club when she remarked with disgust about some young adults nearby, "They are trust fund children. They have more money than they have sense."

Ms. Sykes said for a long time she was not told that her father had cancer, just that he had a bad back. She said she got a cold reception from Ms. Yates when she tried to visit and usually was not allowed to speak to him when she called.

She said when she brought her son, Yates Sykes, for a visit shortly before her father died at age 86 in 2007, he said he wanted to give him "some man money" and handed him two $100 bills. She said Ms. Yates was upset and said he "was going to give it all away."

Attorney Cunningham told the jury the case is about "betrayal, deceit, revenge and the ugly twins - greed and avarice."

He said it was about "her desire for a lifestyle we only see on TV and read about."

Attorney Alan Cates said Jo Ann Cline for the elder Yates "was the love of his life late in life."

He said Pierce Allen Yates "had the right to do what he chose to do" in his will. He said Mr. Yates "did things his way."

Attorney Cates said the will included a clause "that allows her to put Allen back in if the family comes together." 

The brothers sold their shares in the mill after the death of their father. Attorneys said earlier that Allen Yates got $8 million in that deal.

Judge Ralph Van Pelt is presiding over the case, which is expected to last through the week.

   

 

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