Dopp v. Sugarloaf Mining Co.

Steele Hays, Justice.

This case concerns the validity of a 1946 declaration of trust which the appellants claim is either a forgery or was obtained by fraud. The disputed instrument, which we will refer to as the Bovard trust, affects the ownership of an undivided one-third interest in 2,883 acres in Sebastian County, Arkansas, containing valuable coal deposits. The chancellor upheld the Bovard trust, but we must reverse that ruling.

Appellee, Spencer Bovard, is the surviving spouse of Dorothy Bovard, who died intestate in 1965. Appellants, Lula Anna Hoover Dopp and Lula May Hoover Deleon, are…