Lenore Foman v. Elvira A. Davis

ALDRICH, Circuit Judge.

In this case we are asked to overrule our decision in Cleaves v. Kenney, 1 Cir., 1933, 63 F.2d 682, in which we held that an oral agreement not to make a will, so that the other contracting party would take by intestacy, was not within section 5 of the Massachusetts statute of frauds, Mass.G.L. c. 259. This provides,

“No agreement to make a will of real or personal property or to give a legacy or make a devise shall be binding unless such agreement is in writing signed by the person whose executor or administrator is sought to be charged, or by some person by him duly…