Estate of Alburn
Wisconsin Supreme Court
118 N.W.2d 919 (1963)
Ottilie Alburn executed a 1955 Milwaukee will and a later 1959 Kankakee will that revoked it, both leaving the bulk of her estate to her friend and her deceased husband's family rather than her surviving next-of-kin. After moving in with her brother Edwin, Ottilie told him she had destroyed the Kankakee will and had him dispose of the pieces; Edwin's wife later testified Ottilie said the Milwaukee will "was the one she wanted to stand." After Ottilie's death, her sister sought letters of administration claiming intestacy, while the Milwaukee will's holder and other relatives separately offered the Milwaukee and Kankakee wills for probate. The county court applied dependent relative revocation, finding Ottilie destroyed the Kankakee will believing it would revive the Milwaukee will, and admitted the Kankakee will to probate instead; the sister appealed.
Whether, where a testator revokes her last will under the mistaken belief that doing so will revive an earlier will, but that revival is not legally effective, the doctrine of dependent relative revocation may be applied to invalidate the revocation of the last will.