In Re Estate of Spaulding

Plaintiff Virginia Tetzlaff appeals from an order of the circuit court granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment in an action to enforce an oral contract to make a will.

Robert Spaulding (Spaulding), the deceased in this case, was the director of a funeral parlor in Chicago. On June 8, 1978, he executed a will which provided that the bulk of his estate was to pass to his brother, William Spaulding, or if his brother should predecease him, to his brother’s wife, Elizabeth Spaulding. William Spaulding died on February 25, 1982.

Spaulding was murdered on July 21, 1986. His estate was opened…