Contract did not preclude inter vivos gifts

The testator was a party to a pre-nuptial agreement in which she promised to maintain a will giving at least one-fourth of her “estate” to each of her husband’s three sons.

Before death, the testator created two irrevocable trusts of which she was the life beneficiary; the remainder beneficiaries were charities and two individuals.

The testator’s will gave her entire probate estate of less than $10,000 to her husband’s sons; the trusts were worth in excess of $1,000,000.

The court in Estate of Draper v. Bank of America, N.A., 164 P.3d 827 (Kan. Ct. App. 2007), affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the sons’ suit (brought in the name of the estate), holding that the testator did not violate the pre-nuptial agreement which contained no restrictions on the making of inter vivos transfers.