Re Oldham
Wills made at the same time in identical terms are not mutual wills unless there is evidence of an agreement that they would not be revoked.
Facts
Mr and Mrs Oldham made wills in identical terms at the same time, each leaving property to the other absolutely, with gifts over to certain people if the other had died first. After Mr Oldham died, Mrs Oldham remarried and made a new will in different terms. The people named in the earlier wills claimed that she had been bound not to change her will.
Legal principle
Astbury J held that the wills were not mutual wills. The fact that they were made at the same time and in identical terms was not enough, by itself, to show that there was an agreement between the testators not to revoke them. There was no evidence of such an agreement, and the survivor had taken an absolute interest, so she was free to make a new will.
Related cases on secret trusts and mutual wills
- Blackwell v Blackwell [1929] AC 318
- Re Boyes (1884) 26 Ch D 531
- Re Cleaver [1981] 1 WLR 939
- Re Gardner (No 2) [1923] 2 Ch 230
- Re Goodchild [1997] 1 WLR 1216
- Healey v Brown [2002] EWHC 1405 (Ch), [2002] WTLR 849
- Kasperbauer v Griffith [2000] WTLR 333
- Re Keen [1937] Ch 236
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