Law of Wills, 2016A

Judgments affirmed.
Problems
1. Claudia, a 75 year old widow, was afraid to live in her house by herself. She claimed that the
house was haunted and that the noise of the ghosts kept her up at night. Claudia asked her twentyseven
year old neighbor, Tessie, to move in with her. Claudia promised Tessie if she lived with her
until she died that she would leave her half of her estate. Tessie sent Claudia the following text
message: “I want it to be known that you promised to leave me half of everything you own when
you die if I agree to live with you. I will live with you until you die and I expect to receive what you
promised.” Claudia’s response to the text message was “Okay.” When Claudia died, she left the
following will, “I leave my entire estate to my son, Luke.” Claudia’s estate was worth $20 million
dollars. Tessie filed suit to receive $10 million dollars from Claudia’s estate. What is the possible
outcome of her case?
2. William, an 87 year old widower, was suffering from numerous ailments. His insurance paid for
him to have a home health aide for eight hours two days a week. William wanted more help.
Therefore, he told the home health aide, Violet, that if she worked for him for eight hours five days
a week, he would leave her $25,000 in his will. On September 7, 2013, Violet agreed to the
arrangement and William executed a will leaving her $25,000. After the will was executed, Violet
started working for William for eight hours five days a week; the agency only paid her to work two
days a week. On February 14, 2014, Violet got married and left the state. William rescinded his
contract with Violet. William was assigned Lisa, a new home health aide, who only worked eight
hours two days a week. On May 10, 2014, William offered Lisa the same arrangement that he had
with Violet. Lisa agreed to the arrangement and started taking care of William for eight hours five
days a week. On November 1, 2014, William died without changing the terms of his will. Who is
entitled to the $25,000?
13.7.2 Contract Not to Revoke a Will
Married people often execute joint wills or mutual wills. A joint will is one document
executed by two people as both their wills. When the first person dies, the will is probate as that
person’s will. Then, when the second person passes away, the document is probated as that person’s
will. It is more common for couples to execute mutual wills. Mutual wills are the separate wills of
two individuals that contain reciprocal or mirror-image provisions. The making of a joint or mutual
will does not give rise to a presumption against revocation. Problems often arise when the surviving
person has a change of heart, and revokes the prior will. Consider the following example. A and B
are happily married, so they execute a joint will. According to the terms of the will, when A dies,
everything goes to B; when B dies, everything goes to C, the child of A and B. A dies and the will is
probated, so B gets A’s entire estate. A few years after A’s death, B marries D. As a result, B revokes
his prior will and executes a new one leaving his entire estate to D. C may be angry, but she has no
recourse because B did not promise not to revoke the joint will.
A promise not to revoke a will is enforceable if the person seeking to enforce the contract
can prove the existence of the contract by clear and convincing evidence. The contract must be valid
under contract law to be enforceable.
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