Humphries v. Whiteley

This appeal requires the Court to apply the law concerning reciprocal wills made by a husband and wife, each of whom had children by a former marriage and whose children were made beneficiaries of the estate of the surviving party. The trial judge found that the surviving spouse had violated the provisions of the reciprocal will by making inter vivos transfers to her own children to the exclusion of her stepchildren. I believe that the trial judge erred, and I would reverse.

Frank and Bernice Whiteley both had children from previous marriages; they executed reciprocal wills that contained the…