## Facts

- A testator devised 72 acres to “Reba Wrather LaFont, and her bodily heirs, in fee simple,” and the property was distributed to “Reba Wrather LaFont and her bodily heirs.”
- The devise created a life estate in LaFont and a contingent remainder in her bodily heirs, with fee simple vesting in those bodily heirs living at LaFont’s death.
- During probate, the executor and LaFont mortgaged the 72 acres to a bank; after default, the bank conducted a power-of-sale foreclosure in 1988.
- The executor and LaFont received mailed notice of the trustee’s sale, but LaFont’s presumptive bodily heirs (the contingent remaindermen identified in the recorded chain of title) did not receive actual mailed notice.
- The Kimes family bought the 72 acres at the foreclosure sale and later conveyed the property to a family trust.
- LaFont died in 1993; the surviving descendants asserted ownership as bodily heirs and sued to quiet title, claiming the foreclosure was ineffective against their interests due to lack of statutory notice.

## Issues

1. Whether holders of a recorded contingent remainder (presumptive bodily heirs) are “owners” entitled to mailed notice of a power-of-sale foreclosure under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 443.325.3(2).
2. Whether failure to provide the required mailed notice renders the foreclosure sale void as to the unnotified contingent remaindermen’s interests.

## Decision

- The court reversed the judgment for the purchasers and remanded.
- It held that recorded contingent remaindermen with an interest capable of conveyance qualify as “owners” under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 443.325.3(2).
- Because the contingent remaindermen did not receive the required mailed notice, the foreclosure sale was void as to their interests.
- The case was remanded with directions to quiet title in favor of the heirs and to conduct further proceedings on related claims for damages, credits, and other relief.

## Legal Principles

- A recorded contingent remainder that is alienable constitutes a property interest sufficient to qualify the holder as an “owner” for purposes of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 443.325.3(2).
- Missouri’s foreclosure notice statute is construed to protect persons whose recorded, legally cognizable interests may be terminated by a power-of-sale foreclosure.
- When the statute requires mailed notice to an “owner,” failure to provide that notice to an eligible owner renders the foreclosure sale ineffective against that owner’s interest.

## Conclusion

The court construed “owner” in Missouri’s power-of-sale foreclosure notice statute to include holders of recorded, alienable contingent remainders, and it set aside the foreclosure sale as to those interests because they received no mailed notice, remanding for quiet title and related relief proceedings.


Williams v. Kimes, 949 S.W.2d 899 (Mo. 1997)