(Lawyers Weekly - This Week's Decisions, 11/18/19)
Where the widow of a decedent has challenged rulings by a Probate & Family Court judge, the judgment should be vacated to the extent that it declares a premarital agreement null and void.
"At the heart of these cases is the proper distribution of the assets of the decedent, David Stacy, in light of a premarital agreement executed by him and his wife, Iana Stacy (Iana or wife), and the fact that his will did not provide for his wife and expressly excluded his son from a prior marriage. These issues have arisen in the context of two separate cases: (1) a petition brought by the wife against the personal representative of the estate to render an inventory and account and (2) an equity action commenced by the personal representative to recover items belonging to the estate that are in the wife's possession. Because our de novo review of the premarital agreement differs from that of the Probate and Family Court judge, which in turn impacts the outcome of the decedent's estate plan, we vacate and modify portions of the judgment and decree and remand for futher proceedings as necessary.
"If a decedent and the wife entered into a premarital agreement on July 18, 2008. "The parties dispute the interpretation of this agreement. However, it is undisputed that the premarital agreement enumeratedthe parties' separate property owned by each of them at the time of the marriage. The decedent included in his list of assets something called 'Pigeon Trust'...
"Based on the plain language of the premarital agreement, we hold that the wife waived any right to the Pigeon Trust and all of the other property identified in the premarital agreement as the decedent's separate property. In other words, the decedent's interest in the Pigeon Trust is treated upon the occasion of his death as though the parties were never married, to the effect that the wife can claim no entitlement to a share of that property from his estate through intestacy by virtue of her status as spouse. While this separate property is part of the decedent's estate, it cannot be used for purposes of calculating or receiving the wife's intestate share of the decedent's estate...
"Accordingly, we conclude that there were sufficient indicia of the donor's intent to determine that the decedent's estate was the intended contingent beneficiary of the Pigeon Trust should the decedent predecease Joan Bentinck-Smith. Therefore, the Pigeon Trust settlement agreement proceeds should be distribted to Deborah, as the estate's personal representative...
"As a result of the adoption of the code, a will executed prior to marriage is no longer void in this Commonwealth. Because the wife is not a beneficiary of the will, the next question is the size of the wife's intestate share. Here, where the decedent was survived by his wife, his son (who is not a descendant of the surviving spouse), and his adoptive mother, we agree with the judge that the wife's intestate share is 'the first $100,000 plus 1/2 of any balance of the intestate estate'...
