McAnnulty v. McAnnulty

Citations

• 120 Ill. 26

Syllabus

<p>1. Will—revocation by subsequent marriage. Under the act of 1872, a marriage since its adoption, whether of a man or woman, operates, per se, as a revocation of a prior will.</p> <p>2. Statute oe Frauds—verbal ante-nuptial agreement. A mere verbal agreement, made before marriage, whereby the intended wife releases and renounces all interest in the proposed husband’s estate after his death, is obnoxious to the first section of the Statute of Frauds.</p> <p>3. Same—effect of signing after the marriage. Nor will the signing of an ante-nuptial agreement in form, after marriage, although purporting to have been executed before the marriage, have the effect to take a verbal agreement of the same effect, made before the marriage, out of the statute. The execution of such agreement can be regarded no further than a mere acknowledgment, in writing, of the terms of the previous verbal agreement, which fails to meet the requirements of the statute.</p> <p>4. Same—effect of the marriage itself. The subsequent marriage of the parties, after making a verbal ante-nuptial agreement, will not take the same out of the operation of the Statute of Frauds.</p> <p>5. Same—estoppel by fraud from pleading the statute. Doubtless a verbal ante-nuptial agreement might, under special circumstances, be enforced in equity, to prevent the perpetration of a fraud, as, when the wife has, by some artifice or trick, prevented the contract from being reduced to writing, and has received a substantial benefit from it, so that it would operate as a fraud upon the husband.</p>