Kline v. Kline

The night before their wedding, Gabriel Kline read an antenuptial agreement to his non-English-speaking fiancée Ann Hendricks (defendant), leaving her only $40 per year and a life estate in part of the family home; the couple remained married for 17 years until Gabriel's death, after which Samuel Kline and Dillman Bean (plaintiffs) sought to enforce the agreement to bar Ann, then a 70-year-old childless widow, from claiming a share of Gabriel's estate. Ann challenged the agreement's validity, alleging Gabriel had been dishonest about the true extent of his wealth and what she would receive upon his death, and objected at trial to a jury instruction stating she was bound to exercise her own good judgment in agreeing to the contract while Gabriel was under no obligation to reveal his estate's value.