Florida Court Held Mutually Corresponding Promises Have Consideration

A wealthy mother threatened to disinherither children. As a result, her son and daughter made an oral promise to dividewhatever was inherited from their mother’s estate equally. The mother diedleaving a will that disinherited son and named her daughter as the solebeneficiary of the estate. When the son went to enforce the promise his sisterrefused to honor their agreement claiming it failed for lack ofconsideration. 

In Ferguson v. Carnes, the courtheld that the “mutually corresponding promises” were sufficientconsideration. The court reasoned that the promise between the siblings tosplit their inheritance equally meant that each person was giving up thepossibility to inherit more so that each would get something. 

Ferguson v. Carnes, No. 4D12-54, 2013 WL1316345 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Apr. 3, 2013).

Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, NewYork Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.