Article on Allowing Extrinsic Evidence to Protect Testator’s Intentions

Brent Debnam recently published an Article entitled, Deadly Intentions: Posthumously Modifying Unambiguous Wills to Protect the Actual Intentions of Texas’s Testators, 8 Est. Plan. & Community Prop. L.J., 461 (2016). Provided below is a summary of the Article:

Unfortunately, situations like the Johnsons’ are all too common. The problem stems from the dated manner that traditional statutes use to protect testators’ intentions. In the Johnsons’ situation, plenty of external evidence exists to show that the Johnsons’ current wills did not accurately reflect their intentions. However, the traditional approach would not allow a court to consider the widely available external evidence demonstrating the Johnsons’ intentions. In 2015, the Eighty-Fourth Texas Legislature passed a new law, Texas Estates Code § 255.451. Section 255.451 allows courts to consider extrinsic evidence in particular situations. However, Texas’s new law does not protect testators’ intentions in situations like the Johnsons.