WILLS-PRETERMITTED HEIR STATUTE-INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

Authors

Shubrick T. Kothe, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Burdick, deceased, left them some years before their deaths. Mr. Burdick provided in his will that plaintiff was to get two legacies, and Mrs. Burdick, who died after her husband, did not specifically mention plaintiff, but provided that the residue of her estate should be distributed as provided in her husband's will. She subsequently revoked this provision by a codicil which gave the residue to one Langley. Plaintiff claimed a share of the estate under the Arkansas "pretermitted child" statute. Held, Mrs. Burdick's reference to her husband's will incorporated it into her own will, and this was sufficient mention of plaintiff to preclude her claiming, by virtue of the statute, a share, as pretermitted child, of her foster mother's estate. The codicil revoking the incorporating provision did not serve to delete the will incorporated by reference, but left it as a provision of testatrix's will which, although of no effect in passing property, was still a part of the will. Kinnear v. Langley, (Ark. 1946) 192 S.W. (2d) 978.

Recommended Citation

Shubrick T. Kothe, WILLS-PRETERMITTED HEIR STATUTE-INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE, 45 Mich. L. Rev. 242 (1946).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol45/iss2/22