From The Nashville Tennessean, Feb. 23, 1997:

32 Years After Death, Star's Estate In Dispute

By Thomas Goldsmith

Jim Reeves was a tuxedo-wearing, smooth-singing star who won fans all over the world with hits like "He'll Have To Go," before dying at age 39 in a plane crash near Brentwood.

More than 30 years after his death, his records and songs earn estimated annual royalties of between $200,000 and $250,000, court records show.

In the years since his death, Jim Reeves' widow kept his memory alive by promoting his music and turning a historic Madison farmhouse into a museum focused on his career.

But Mary Reeves Davis is now suffering from "senile dementia" and recovering from a broken hip in an upscale Nashville nursing home, doctors say in court records.

"It is obvious that Mrs. Davis has no present capacity to understand and make decisions about her finances or her health care," attorney Douglas Berry, a court-appointed guardian for Davis, said in a report last month to Davidson County Probate Court.

On one side of the dispute is Terry Davis, 65, a former Baptist minister Mary Reeves Davis married in 1969. His right to manage his wife's affairs is being challenged and a judge has appointed Berry as guardian ad litem, to investigate her care and the disposition of her property. Taking issue with Terry Davis' management of the Reeves estate is Lani Thomas Arnold, a niece of Jim Reeves, who lives in Shreveport, La.

In a petition filed last August, Arnold said she believes Mary Reeves Davis "was not competent to manage her own affairs or was subject to duress and undue influence" when she signed a series of documents between May and July 1996.

Terry Davis said last week that Arnold's allegations that he influenced Mary Reeves Davis to sign documents contrary to her interest are "not true."

"When we have our day in court, we will show that they are not true." Terry Davis said his wife "knew what she was doing" when she signed the sales and trust agreements last summer.

During the same period when Mary Reeves Davis was signing a series of agreements about the Jim Reeves estate, someone complained to the Tennessee Department of Human Services that she was living "in unsanitary conditions" with her husband and 200 cats, on a farm in Rutherford County.

DHS went to court on Mary Reeves Davis' behalf in Murfreesboro, but that suit is on hold now that she is living at Richland Place and has a court-appointed guardian and a temporary conservator.

The court proceeding initiated by DHS in Rutherford County has been placed under seal, but one doctor's report on file in the Probate Court case here says that Mary Reeves Davis' "grooming and hygiene was grossly deteriorated, with cat feces in her hair," when DHS got involved.

Terry Davis said last week that he would prefer not to comment on his wife's problems, "especially during this very sad time."

While the court battle over the estate continues, Mary Reeves Davis is living at the Health Center at Richland Place, off West End Avenue, Berry said. Her concentration comes and goes, she periodically "blanks out" and she becomes frustrated when she is unable to communicate, Berry wrote in the Jan. 14 report.

Davis, who now lives in Murfreesboro, said he visits his wife at Richland Place "every day."

After Arnold filed her petition in August, Davidson County Probate Judge Frank Clement, Jr. appointed Berry to investigate Mary Reeves Davis' medical and financial situation. Clement has named her brother, W.D. White, a professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina, as her temporary conservator with authority to make decisions for her.

Berry recommended at a hearing last month that Terry Davis not be appointed as his wife's conservator "at this time."

Berry said last week that he hopes to file a full report with the court "within a month or so" on whether Mary Reeves Davis needs a permanent conservator and, if so, who that should be.

Here's how the case has developed so far:

• First agreement provides life income for couple. On April 25, 1996, Mary Reeves Davis put all her property into a trust, with a provision that she and Terry Davis would receive incomes for the rest of their lives, after which the remaining assets would be given to charity. The agreement also calls for the museum, music and memory of Reeves to continue to be promoted. Davis signed the trust agreement on April 25 at the urging of Arnold, the singer's niece. Arnold wants Jim Reeves' memorabilia returned to her hometown of Shreveport, La., where Reeves began his singing career in the 1950s, and to Reeves' hometown of Carthage, Texas, where he was buried. The trust agreement suggested that Arnold be allowed to operate a gift shop, "for a generous percentage of the profit," if the Reeves memorabilia were moved to Shreveport and incorporated in a museum there.
• The trust agreement is revoked. On May 25, Mary Reeves Davis revoked the trust agreement while she was a resident of Stones River Manor, a Murfressboro nursing home, and gave her husband power of attorney to act on her behalf.
• Museum, music, memorabilia sold. On June 24, Mary Reeves Davis sold the rights to Jim Reeves' name and record royalties, plus the museum site and contents and several other pieces of real estate, to Nolensville-based United Shows of America Inc. for $7.3 million. Both she and Terry Davis signed the sales agreement with United Shows, which operates carnivals across the South.
• Second trust agreement splits sale proceeds. On July 11, Mary Reeves Davis signed a second trust agreement, providing that sales proceeds be divided equally between her and her husband, even though he had no ownership interest in the property being sold.
• Petition asks that sale be stopped. Arnold filed a petition in Davidson County Probate Court on Aug. 28, asking that a conservator be appointed for Mary Reeves Davis, and that the sale of her assets to United Shows be enjoined, pending an investigation of her mental condition at the time she signed the sales and trust agreements benefiting her husband. Arnold's lawyer, R. Horton Frank III, said she filed the suit because she is "concerned for her Aunt Mary's welfare and the protection of her financial interests." It will be up to Mary Reeves Davis' permanent conservator, once one is appointed, to decide whether to ask that the sale of her assets be set aside.

Terry Davis said last week that his wife's mental problems "started as a B-12 deficiency, which is also called pernicious anemia."

"But one of the encouraging things about pernicious anemia is that when you get your B-12 level back up where it should be, you can get better."

Arnold declined to comment on the Probate Court proceeding that she initiated -- or on whether she was the person who complained to DHS about Mary Reeves Davis' condition -- when The Tennessean contacted her last week.

Meanwhile, Ed Gregory, chairman of United shows, said last week that his company is not involved in the dispute between Terry Davis and Arnold.

"The squabble is between family members," he said.