California Court Refuses to Create New Exception for Testamentary Gifts to Spouse-Caregivers

Richard Pryor, the comedian, became afflicted with multiple sclerosis in the mid 1980’s. Jennifer, his former wife, became his caregiver in 1994.  They remarried in 2001.  Both before and after the marriage, Pryor revised his estate plans to leave substantial assets to Jennifer rather than to his six children (who did not learn of the marriage until after their father’s death).  A California statute makes gifts to caregivers presumptively invalid, but contains an exception for gifts to spouses.

The court refused to create a judicial exception to the gift to spouses rule in cases where the marriage was allegedly obtained by fraud and undue influence, ruling that the statute contained no such exception and the court was not going to create one.

Estate of Pryor, 99 Cal. Rptr. 895, 2009 Cal. App. LEXIS 1609 (2009).

Special thanks to Martin D. Begleiter (Professor of Law, Drake University) for providing this information.