Opinion

Hooper v. Clinkingbeard

  • 64 O.B.A.J. 813
  • 848 P.2d 1146
  • 1993 OK 19
  • 1993 Okla. LEXIS 31
Court
Supreme Court of Oklahoma
Filed
Mar 16, 1993
Status
Published
Author
Hodges
On the bench
Hargrave, Hodges, Kauger, Lavender, Opala, Simms, Summers, Watt, Wilson
Cited by
35 cases
Authority
More cited than 23.0%

Distinguished

  • Distinguished by In RE ESTATES OF McLEAN, 231 P.3d 727 (2009)

    ¶ 14 We distinguish Estate of Flowers from the present case.
    Court of Civil Appeals of OklahomaDec 4, 2009Read it

The opinion

HODGES, Chief Justice,

concurring specially.

The majority holds that parol evidence is admissible to resolve an ambiguity as to the testator’s intention in omitting her adopted daughter from the will. While I concur in the finding of an ambiguity, such a finding is not necessary in order to admit extrinsic evidence to determine the testator’s intent in omitting the child.

As I stated in my dissent In re Estate of Glomset, 547 P.2d 951, 954 (Okla.1976):

The purpose and legislative intent of [Okla.Stat. tit. 84, § 132] is to protect children unintentionally omitted from the will. It is not to be construed to alter the testamentary intent of the testator by including children he intentionally excluded from his estate.

There is no language in section 132 which prohibits a court from considering extrinsic evidence to determine the intent of the testator in omitting a child from a will.

Because I would admit extrinsic evidence even without a finding of ambiguity in the will, I concur specially.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.