Stephens v. Caruthers

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

Plaintiffs filed this suit to enforce the terms of an alleged 1981 oral agreement between their now deceased father and stepmother to execute mutual and reciprocal wills designed to ensure that the testators’ jointly-owned estate would, on the death of the survivor, pass in equal shares to the father and stepmother’s respective heirs. To prove the existence of the alleged agreement, plaintiffs rely in substantial part on the testimony of an heir and her spouse concerning statements made by the deceased testators. This implicates Virginia’s Dead Man’s…