## Facts

- Geraldine B. McKenney died intestate in 1990, leaving her home as her only significant asset and her son, Joseph W. McKenney, Jr., as sole heir; no probate was opened for years.
- Property taxes went unpaid for over a decade, accruing to more than $100,000.
- In 2004, Joseph lived in a shelter, had no real estate experience, and believed he had already lost the home due to unpaid taxes.
- Khalid B.M. Eltayeb approached Joseph and offered to buy Joseph’s interest for $1,200, paid in four $300 installments.
- Eltayeb did not disclose the property’s approximate value or explain Joseph’s statutory right to redeem despite the tax delinquency.
- Eltayeb represented that the house faced imminent demolition and pressured Joseph to decide immediately.
- After acquiring Joseph’s assignment, Eltayeb opened the estate and was appointed personal representative.
- Joseph later learned the property had substantial value above the tax debt and sought probate relief to rescind the assignment and remove Eltayeb.

## Issues

1. Whether the probate court properly rescinded Joseph’s assignment of his estate interest to Eltayeb based on misrepresentation, nondisclosure, and overreaching in the transaction.
2. Whether the probate court properly removed Eltayeb as personal representative due to conduct inconsistent with fiduciary obligations.

## Decision

- The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed.
- The court upheld the probate court’s rescission of the assignment transferring Joseph’s interest to Eltayeb.
- The court upheld the probate court’s order removing Eltayeb as personal representative.

## Legal Principles

- Under D.C. law, legal title to a decedent’s real property passes to the personal representative rather than directly to intestate heirs, though heirs retain beneficial interests.
- Equitable rescission may be granted when consent to transfer a beneficial interest is induced by material misrepresentations, misleading half-truths, or omission of material facts, particularly where the other party is vulnerable or mistaken about key circumstances.
- Gross disparity between consideration and value, combined with pressure tactics and failure to disclose information central to the decision to sell (including available statutory protections), supports rescission.
- Probate courts have discretion to remove a personal representative whose conduct demonstrates unfitness to serve or conflicts with fiduciary duties of loyalty and fair dealing toward the estate and its beneficiaries.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed rescission of an heir’s low-price assignment obtained through misleading statements and nondisclosure about the property’s value and redemption rights, and it affirmed removal of the purchaser as personal representative because the same conduct showed he could not be trusted to perform fiduciary duties.


In re Estate of McKenney, 953 A.2d 336 (D.C. 2008)