Edward S. Ferguson v. v. Katina Helen Hawe Critopoulos

Summary

The court held that the surviving spouse was entitled to an omitted-spouse share unless the will showed intentional omission or the decedent reasonably provided through outside transfers that those transfers were in lieu of a testamentary provision. Although the decedent’s transfers to the spouse were less than the entire intestate share, the transfers, the decedent’s consideration of his will after marriage, the brief marriage, and the will’s benefit to the former spouse’s children constituted reasonable proof of that intent. The court therefore reversed and remanded the probate court’s judgment awarding the spouse the omitted-spouse share.