In re Tipler's Will

Gladys Tipler's holographic codicil directed that if her husband predeceased her, her estate should pass according to the terms of his will, even though he had not yet executed that will when she wrote the codicil; testimony established Tipler felt closer to her husband's family than her own and wanted her estate to follow his wishes. After her husband predeceased her and Tipler later died, the beneficiaries under his will sought to enforce the codicil, while Tipler's own heirs objected that the codicil was invalid because its material provisions — the beneficiary identities — depended on a document not in Tipler's handwriting, as Tennessee law required all material holographic-will provisions to be in the testator's own hand.