California Probate Code 21700 – (a) A contract to make a will or devise or other instrument, or …
(a) A contract to make a will or devise or other instrument, or not to revoke a will or devise or other instrument, or to die intestate, if made after the effective date of this statute, can be established only by one of the following:
(1) Provisions of a will or other instrument stating the material provisions of the contract.
Terms Used In California Probate Code 21700
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Devise: To gift property by will.
- Devise: when used as a noun, means a disposition of real or personal property by will, and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. See California Probate Code 32
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Instrument: means a will, a document establishing or modifying a trust, a deed, or any other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. See California Probate Code 45
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, or other entity. See California Probate Code 56
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88
(2) An expressed reference in a will or other instrument to a contract and extrinsic evidence proving the terms of the contract.
(3) A writing signed by the decedent evidencing the contract.
(4) Clear and convincing evidence of an agreement between the decedent and the claimant or a promise by the decedent to the claimant that is enforceable in equity.
(5) Clear and convincing evidence of an agreement between the decedent and another person for the benefit of the claimant or a promise by the decedent to another person for the benefit of the claimant that is enforceable in equity.
(b) The execution of a joint will or mutual wills does not create a presumption of a contract not to revoke the will or wills.
(c) A contract to make a will or devise or other instrument, or not to revoke a will or devise or other instrument, or to die intestate, if made prior to the effective date of this section, shall be construed under the law applicable to the contract prior to the effective date of this section.
(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 17, Sec. 8. Effective January 1, 2001.)