Rogers v. Estate of Pratt

Summary

The court held that a child placed for adoption remains a legal heir of the biological parent and therefore qualifies as a pretermitted heir. The adoption decree, combined with the will's false statement that the decedent had no children, created an ambiguity requiring extrinsic evidence of testamentary intent, and the evidence was insufficient to establish intentional omission. The court vacated the Court of Civil Appeals' decision, reversed the trial court, and remanded; the undue-influence issue was moot because Rogers takes the estate under intestate succession.