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Judge ordered to pay $1.19 million A Mobile County circuit judge has issued an order requiring a Clarke County circuit judge to pay $1,190,000 in a long running estate dispute and to convey 605 acres of property to the estate's sole beneficiary and the local judge''s adversary in the matter. Judge John R. Lockett issued the order Friday ordering Stuart DuBose, a judge of the First Judicial Circuit, to make the conveyances to Cheryl Weaver in regard to the estate of Joseph L. Sullivan of Washington County. The estate is said to be worth several million dollars. DuBose was a practicing lawyer in Jackson when Weaver came to him and asked him to prepare a will for Sullivan, leaving his entire estate to her. DuBose did so without ever meeting Sullivan. Sullivan died not long after signing the document and DuBose ultimately became executor of the estate. Weaver initially agreed to pay DuBose a hefty percentage of the estate as his legal fee, 40 percent if it was challenged in court, which it was. She later changed her mind regarding the payment and that was the basis for the estate dispute. The case was moved from Washington County to Mobile County last year after DuBose won the Democratic nomination to become a circuit judge. DuBose was elected without opposition to be a circuit judge in the November general election. The circuit includes Choctaw, Clarke and Washington counties. Lockett wrote in his order, "The Court will not recite the troubled history that gets us to this point. Suffice it to say that on October 2, 2006, on the date this matter was set for trial, the parties announced they had reached a settlement of their disputes and read into the record a settlement agreement. Now, ten months later, the matter is not resolved and Weaver has filed the motions listed above [for judgment]." Lockett's order notes that he took testi- mony from the parties regarding the matter in August of this year and also received a motion and response from DuBose. "After considering the evidence before the Court and the arguments of the parties, the Court finds that the actions of Dubose [sic] are in derogation of the settlement agreement reached in this case...Judgment is hereby entered in favor of Cheryl Weaver and against the estate of Joseph J. Sullivan and Stuart Dubose [sic], individually, jointly and severally in the amount of one million one hundred ninety thousand dollars ($1,190,000)." Lockett also ordered that the Aug. 3, 2007 conveyance executed by DuBose as executor of the estate and recorded in Washington County which "purports to split the real property between Weaver and the law office of Stuart Dubose [sic] P.C. is contrary to the settlement agreement and is due to be set aside. Accordingly, said indenture is hereby declared to be null and void and held for naught." DuBose was ordered to convey to Weaver within 30 days three separate parcels of Washington County property belonging to the estate, totaling 605 acres. That includes 240 acres where Weaver's home is located, a 309-acre parcel and 56 acres known as the Pringle Property. In addition, DuBose is to take "all necessary steps" to make sure that the conveyances are "free from any encumbrance or lien of the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] as pursuant to the settlement agreement 'Stuart is responsible for the IRS.' "
If DuBose fails to convey the property as Lockett directed, "the Clerk of the Circuit Court is hereby directed to convey the same by statutory warranty deed," the order concludes.
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