TV Sitcom Raises Wills Issues

Last Tuesday’s (October 4, 2005) episode of the new NBC comedy show My Name is Earl was brimming with wills issues. The ex-wife of the protagonist, a reformed small-time hood named Earl who is attempting to atone for his evil acts, discovers a video will in which she is left the bulk of Earl’s estate. She then sets out to kill Earl in a variety of ways such as with poisoned cookies (not quite as exciting as Kill Bill) with no success. During one of the final scenes, Earl stops his ex-wife from killing him by revealing that he as made a new will excluding her.

Here is a list of some of the wills issues raised by this storyline:

• Does a videotape satisfy the “in writing” requirement of a valid will?
• Could a videotape be a nuncupative will?
• Did the divorce automatically revoke the will?
• If the ex-wife was successful in killing Earl, would a slayer statute prevent her from taking under the will?
• What is the effect of the new will on the prior will?

Special thanks to Prof. Alfred Brophy of the University of Alabama School of Law and his student, Wade Merritt, for bringing this episode to my attention.