Jayne Rauch’s father, Emil, died in December 2021. In September of that year, he wrote the following in a letter to McNaughton (his lawyer).
I would like to change my last will and testament:
I am still willing my half of [the farm] to St. Victor’s/St. Clare of Assisi Parish of Monroe but am changing it to stipulate that upon their most likely sale of this half, my daughter, Jayne, should be given $500,000 of the proceeds. They will have the remaining proceeds from the sale, which at approximately $10,000 per acre should be nearly $350,000.
Just like that, the St. Victor Parish’s bequest was slashed from $850,000 to $350,000 unless it wished to simply hold the land forever (unlikely). Not measly, but much less than the original expectancy.
Lady Luck smiled upon St. Victor’s as McNaughton failed to complete the requested revisions prior to Emil’s death. Jane, now out half a million dollars, sued McNaughton for legal malpractice since he failed to implement her father’s wishes. The case was dismissed because Jane was not McNaughton’s estate planning client, and the lawyer therefore had no duty to her. In other words, she lacked “standing” to bring the lawsuit. To St. Victor’s belonged the spoils, all $850,000.
In other postings, CCK has addressed the “harmless error” doctrine that allows defective wills to stand if they clearly represent the decedent’s wishes.
Wisconsin has neither explicitly endorsed nor rejected that doctrine.
Might Jane have argued that Emil’s letter to McNaughton was good enough to count as a revised will?
Rauch v. McNaughton, 2024 WL 3824026 (Wis.App. August 15, 2024)
This article was originally published on LinkedIn on December 17, 2024. To stay updated on all things Bequest Management, you can check out our LinkedIn
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