Gift to Ex-spouse in a Pre-marital Will Deemed Revoked by Divorce

The decedent and his ex-spouse dated for many years before marrying.  The decedent died five years after their divorce, never having changed his will executed before marriage which created a hierarchy of contingent dispositions, starting with a gift to a surviving wife, then issue, then parents, and finally to his then friend now ex-spouse who was identified by name.  There was no specific residuary clause.  The ex-spouse was the only beneficiary who survived the decedent.  State law provides that provisions for a spouse are revoked upon divorce unless the will specifically provides otherwise.

In Gibboney v. Wachovia Bank, 622 S.E.2d 162 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005), the court held that the gift to the ex-spouse was revoked by the statute and that the decedent therefore died intestate.