Estate of Ellis

Grace Ellis's 1964 will named Shriners Hospitals (plaintiff) as beneficiary if she had no living descendants; her 1999 will instead left everything to her pastor, James Bauman (defendant), who had also received substantial lifetime gifts and retitled assets from Ellis. After Ellis died without descendants, Bauman probated the 1999 will; Shriners didn't learn of the earlier 1964 will until years later and then sued Bauman in tort for intentional interference with its inheritance expectancy. The circuit court dismissed the suit as filed beyond the probate code's six-month will-contest deadline, and the appellate court affirmed; Shriners appealed, arguing that deadline shouldn't govern a tort claim.