In re Tipler's Will


FACTS: Tipler made a holographic codicil to her will that stated that her estate should be distributed according to the provisions of her husband's will if her husband predeceased her, but her husband had no will when the codicil was drafted. Decedent executed a holographic codicil directing that if her husband predecease her that her estate be distributed under his will. Decedent’s relatives contend that this codicil was invalid and the doctrine of independt significance could not apply because the all material provisions of the codicil were not in the decedent’s handwriting.

ISSUE: Should the court give effect to a codicil that references a will that is not in existence?

RULE: A testamentary disposition that cannot be fully determined from the terms of the will is not invalid if it can be determined from facts that have a significance other than their effect upon the disposition in the will.

HOLDING: Yes. A testamentary disposition that cannot be fully determined from the terms of the will is not invalid if it can be determined from facts that have significance beyond their effect upon the disposition in the will. The codicil does not incorporate the husband's will by reference, but the will is a fact of independent significance.


ANALYSIS: Although Tipler was willing to let her husband's will determine the disposition of her own estate, her husband's will nonetheless had independent significance. The independent "event" or "fact" was the distribution of her husband's estate. The estates of Tipler and her husband are two different entities. Note also that Tipler could have further modified her will, up until the time of her death, and it would have had no affect on her husband's will. In considering whether the codicil contains all of the material terms in Tipler's own writing, the court must be guided by the presumption against intestacy and the weight given to the testator's intent. There was evidence that Tipler was not on good terms with her heirs (P) and did not want them to inherit from it.