Wilkes v. O'Bryan

Agid, A.C.J.

Annette and Thomas Wilkes executed a community property agreement which purported to vest a “fee simple” estate in the surviving spouse, but also provided that upon the death of the second spouse, the residuary estate should be divided among their melded family of six children. Arguing that community property agreements may be used as will substitutes to pass property to third parties, Thomas’s three children contend that this agreement created a vested remainder in each of them for one-sixth of the Wilkes’ residuary estate. In Bartlett v. Bartlett,1 however, the Washington…