In re Snide
Court of Appeals of New York
418 N.E.2d 656 (1981)
Harvey and Rose Snide executed identical mutual wills, each leaving their estate to the surviving spouse, but their attorney mistakenly reversed the envelopes at the signing ceremony, causing each spouse to sign the will drafted for the other; when Harvey died, Rose (proponent) offered for probate the will drafted for her but bearing Harvey's signature, and their adult children consented, but the guardian ad litem (objector) for their minor child objected, since the minor would inherit through intestacy if the will were void but nothing under its terms. The Surrogate's Court admitted the will to probate with reformed names, but the Appellate Division reversed based on historical precedent denying probate in such circumstances, and Rose appealed.
Whether mutual wills, simultaneously executed with statutory formality and containing identical reciprocal testamentary schemes, may be read together and admitted to probate when the testators mistakenly signed each other's wills.