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Fleming v. Morrison

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

72 N.E.2d 499 (1904)

Relevant factsFree

Francis Butterfield had his attorney, Sidney Goodrich, draft a will leaving his entire estate to Mary Fleming (defendant), intending only to use the fake will as a ploy to convince her to have sex with him. After Butterfield signed the will and Goodrich signed as an attesting witness, Butterfield privately admitted to Goodrich that the will was not meant to be real and was "made for a purpose." Two additional witnesses then signed the will without being told the truth. When Fleming attempted to enforce the will, the lower court admitted extrinsic evidence about Butterfield's true intent, and the case reached the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

IssueFree

Whether extrinsic evidence proving that an attesting witness knew the testator lacked testamentary intent when executing the will is admissible to show the document was not a duly executed will.

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