In re Estate of Kuralt

Charles Kuralt, having conducted a decades-long secret affair with Shannon (plaintiff) that included jointly building a cabin on Montana land, executed a 1994 formal will making no gifts to her, but shortly before his sudden death in 1997 had already begun quietly deeding one Montana property to her and planning to deed two others similarly; while hospitalized just before his death, he wrote Shannon a letter enclosing checks and stating he would have his attorney ensure she "inherited" the remaining Montana property "if it comes to that." Kuralt's estate opposed probating this letter as a holographic codicil, and after the Montana Supreme Court initially remanded for factual development, the district court held an evidentiary hearing and found the letter a valid holographic codicil; the estate appealed again.