The settlor’s unambiguous right to revoke prevents admission of extrinsic evidence of intent

A husband and his wife created revocable trusts terminating on their respective deaths at which time each trust was to be distributed in equal shares to their children from prior marriages. After the wife’s death, the husband remarried. He revoked his trust and created a new trust of which only his children were remainder beneficiaries. After the husband’s death, the wife’s children sued, alleging that the trusts were made pursuant to an oral agreement not to revoke the trusts and that the husband had defrauded their mother. In Kempton v. Dugan, WD66368, 2007 WL 813126 (Mo. Ct. App. Mar. 20, 2007), the court held that the husband’s power to revoke was unambiguous which prevented the admission of extrinsic evidence. In addition, there was insufficient evidence that the husband made false statements to his wife to induce her to execute her trust which therefore prevented a finding of fraud.