Richardson v. Green

With considerable reluctance, I join in the opinion and judgment of the court. I am very uncomfortable with the notion that private parties may not agree among themselves, without the involvement of a lawyer or the intervention of the probate court, to resolve their claims to an estate to which they are all heirs. This was entirely permissible at common law. When the estate is relatively small, as it is here, the financial burden of going through probate plainly outweighs the supposed benefits of the probate process. In this case, however, the legislative intent to repeal the common law rule…