Estate of Sheldon
Court of Appeal of California
142 Cal. Rptr. 119 (1977)
Florence's 1972 holographic will left her estate to her own children from a prior marriage, and Marion (plaintiff, her son) alleged Florence and her later husband Al had orally agreed before marrying to waive any claim on each other's estates; the trial court, with an advisory jury, found this oral antenuptial agreement existed and that Florence detrimentally changed her position by marrying Al and thereby giving up rights she'd otherwise have had as his surviving spouse, estopping the Petersons (defendants, to whom Al had assigned his interest) from invoking the statute of frauds against the oral agreement.
Whether, under community-property law, estoppel can be raised as a successful defense to the statute of frauds where a party to an oral antenuptial agreement changed position in a detrimental manner in reliance on the agreement.