Expectancy to be the beneficiary of a living testator may be assigned

The testator’s child and her siblings signed an agreement relating to the testator’s care agreeing that the child would buy the testator’s home, that the testator would be placed under conservatorship, and that any conservatorship funds remaining at the testator’s death would belong to the child.

After the testator’s death, her will was admitted to probate and the remaining funds distributed under the will in equal shares to the testator’s children. The child’s suit against her siblings was dismissed by the trial court.

However, both the immediate appellate court and the state’s supreme court held that a prospective beneficiary may assign an expectancy under a will and that the child must have the opportunity to prove the existence of consideration, lack of fraud, and that the agreement embodied the parties’ intent. The child would also have a cause of action based on promissory estoppel. Rector v. Tatham, 196 P.3d 364 (Kan. 2008).