Court Opinion

ID: 9619771
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:32:51.858971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:25.250161
License: Public Domain

DAVISON, Justice
(dissenting).
I think I should outline briefly my reasons for dissenting to the majority opinion in the above styled cause.
It is my opinion that in this case there is an entire absence of two elements essentially prerequisite to recovery by the plaintiffs in the trial court. They are lack of proof of contractual obligations and lack of consideration for any contract. The purported will of Mr. Smith was not properly executed and had no testamentary effect. . Its attempted execution had no tendency to prove a contractual obligation. Paull v. Earlywine, 195 Okl. 486, 159 P.2d 556. Also, 169 A.L.R. 68. The strongest proof made , of the existence of a contract was the testimony of one of the witnesses that Mr. and Mrs. Smith had said “they (the Smiths) had everything fixed if anything should happen, that they wanted Maudie and DeLois to have what they had. They said they had everything fixed. They made that statement the last three or four times they were there.”
I do not think the evidence constituted any proof of a contract. A declaration of intent to make a will does not establish the existence of a contract to make a will. Crawford v. Briant, 10 Cir., 53 F.2d 754; Frese v. Meyer, 392 Ill. 59, 63 N.E.2d 768; In re Opel’s Estate, 352 Mo. 592, 179 S.W.2d 1; Diez v. Rosicky, 145 Neb. 242, 16 N.W.2d 155. I cannot interpret such proof to be “so cogent, clear, and forcible as to leave no reasonable doubt as to its [the contract’s] terms and character” as such it must be “before a court of equity will specifically enforce an oral contract to devise property”. Kinnett v. Goodno, 170 Okl, 620, 41 P.2d 824, 825.
As to the matter of consideration, it was held in the case of Louthan v. Johnson, 111 Okl. 170, 239 P. 173, 176, that “contracts to make a will which are entered into in writing and containing a consideration are enforceable, but contracts, either oral or written, are not enforceable without a consideration.” Mutual wills were not entered into because Mr. Smith made no will. Therefore, Mrs. Smith was not bound to make the will she did nor, having made it, was she bound not to revoke it. Since she was not bound, neither was Mr. Smith. See Ireland v. Jacobs, 114 Colo. 168, 163 P.2d 203, 161 A.L.R. 1413. If one party to a contract is not bound, neither is the other. In addition, by the provisions of 84 O.S.1951 § 44, Mrs. Smith’s will was void as to Mr. Smith because, under the laws of intestate ' succession, he was entitled to the entire estate which she left. The only method by which her will could acquire validity was by his election to take under it. In the case of Bank of Commerce & Trust Co. v. Trigg, 138 Okl. 216, 280 P. 563, it was held that, unless an election is made, ,a surviving spouse takes under the law and not under the will. If the spouse die before making an election, none of the heirs can make it and the survivor takes under the law. Further, “A husband and wife cannot, by contract to make a conjoint will, and by the making of such will in pursuance thereto, nullify the provisions of 84 O.S.[1951] § 44 known as the ‘forced heir statute.’ ” In re Blaydes’ Estate, 202 Okl. 558, 216 P.2d 277, 278. “Our statutes authorizing spouses to contract with each other do not extend to the subject of wills, or to an agreement of one not to dissent from the will of the other”. Crane v. Howard, 206 Okl. 278, 243 P.2d 998, 1001.
It is my conclusion that the proof was not sufficient to establish the making of a contract to devise property and also ' that, had a contract been definitely proven, it is of no effect because of an utter lack of any consideration. I, therefore, respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice O’NEAL and Mr. Justice BLACKBIRD concur in the above dissent.