Stacia Davis lost her bid to seize her father’s estate and now owes $22,208.18 to the court. The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling on Wednesday, rejecting her claim that Larry Davis lacked the mental capacity to sign a will leaving everything to his then-fiancée, Michelle Tressler. This decision cements Tressler’s status as the sole beneficiary of the 79-year-old’s assets, which he left her in a document signed in 2020, nearly two years before his death in 2022.
The legal battle dragged on for years, consuming resources and generating a 431-entry expense log. The lower court found much of this prolonged litigation stemmed directly from Davis’s actions, including requests for documents that yielded no useful evidence. During a February 2025 hearing, two witnesses confirmed the will’s signatures were genuine. Davis attempted to introduce a fraudulent affidavit questioning one witness, but the court dismissed the document as inauthentic and criticized her decision to persist with the challenge.
The financial fallout is severe. Attorney Robert W. York initially sought $26,198.61 in fees for his work as special administrator. The court ordered Davis to cover the bulk of that cost—$22,208.18—while the estate pays the remainder. Davis handled her own appeal, a move that backfired. The appeals court noted her submissions included unaccepted evidence, missing citations, and references to non-existent or irrelevant legal cases.
Despite these procedural failures, the judges reviewed her arguments and affirmed the original verdict. However, they determined her appeal’s presentation issues justified a second award of attorney fees. The case has now been remanded to the lower court to calculate the exact amount Davis must pay for the appeal process, adding to her existing debt.