Cynthia Gerhard and Elkton S. Gerhard III v. Elkton S. Gerhard, Jr.

── Cynthia Gerhard and Elkton S. Gerhard III v. Elkton S. Gerhard, Jr. ── Case No.: SC-2025-0633 Court: Supreme Court of Alabama Date: March 13, 2026 Author: Sellers Category: General Rel: March 13, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter. SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ SC-2025-0633 _________________________ Cynthia Gerhard and Elkton S. Gerhard III v. Elkton S. Gerhard, Jr. Appeal from Mobile Circuit Court (CV-21-900331) SELLERS, Justice. Cynthia Gerhard and her husband Elkton S. Gerhard III ("Elkton III") appeal from a judgment of the Mobile Circuit Court ("the trial court") SC-2025-0633 authorizing by stipulation that certain property located on Harmon Williams Road in Mobile ("the property") be sold for a division of the proceeds, pursuant to § 35-6-20 et seq., Ala. Code 1975. We dismiss the appeal. I. Facts and Procedural History Elkton Gerhard, Jr. ("the father"), has two sons, Russ Gerhard and Elkton III. In 2013, the father and Russ acquired the property by warranty deed, and they owned it jointly with rights of survivorship. The father thereafter leased the property to Elkton III and Cynthia on a month-to-month basis. After Elkton III and Cynthia defaulted under the lease, the father commenced an action seeking to eject them from the property. Before the scheduled bench trial, the father learned that, during the pendency of the ejectment action, Russ had executed an unrecorded quitclaim deed conveying his interest in the property to Elkton III and Cynthia. The father thereafter filed a motion for leave to amend the complaint to recast his ejection claim as a "Sale for Division" claim. In his complaint, the father alleged that the property was incapable of being equitably partitioned, and he requested that the property be sold and that the proceeds be divided among the rightful 2 SC-2025-0633 owners. The father also sought to add Russ as a defendant and to include a claim against him to set aside, as void, the deed purporting to convey his interest in the property. On July 10, 2025, the trial court conducted a hearing on the father's claim seeking a sale for division, at which the parties stipulated to several matters. On August 1, 2025, the trial court entered the following order based on those stipulations: "This case came before the Court on the [father's] Complaint for a Sale for Division of the subject property. In open Court, the parties were able to stipulate as to several matters as follows: "1. The [father's] count in [his] Complaint seeking to set aside a deed from [Russ] to [Elkton III and Cynthia] was voluntarily dismissed by [the father] and [Russ] is hereby dismissed as a party defendant. "2. The remaining parties, [the father] and [Elkton III and Cynthia] stipulated that [Elkton III and Cynthia] are unable to purchase the 1/2 interest of [the father] and that the property, therefore, must be sold for a division of the net proceeds. "3. The parties also stipulated that Jennifer Kirkland, at Remax Realty shall be selected to list the subject property for sale, and that the listing price for the property should be $66,000, which comports with the current fair market value set forth in the records of the Mobile County Revenue Commissioner. The Court so orders and Jennife