Spouses created a joint revocable trust which included a provision preventing the survivor from amending or revoking the trust after the first to die. The trust terms included a statement that the spouses’ wills executed at the same time were not to be construed as contractual. Those wills poured over each testator’s estate to the trust. After the first death, the surviving spouse executed a will distributing her estate to individuals, a distribution differing from that under the trust. One of the couple’s children objected to the probate of the will on the grounds that the trust terms forbidding revocation or amendment after the first death created a contract not to revoke the pourover will. The trial court agreed but on appeal, in Butler v. Butler, 1140683, 2015 WL 5511244 (Ala. Sept. 18, 2015), the Supreme Court of Alabama reversed, holding that while a lifetime trust could be a writing signed by the decedent evidencing a contract not to revoke, nothing explicit or implied in the trust terms prohibited the surviving spouse from revoking the will referenced in the trust.
