Solon v. Slater

Citations

• 345 Conn. 794

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants, C, the son of the plaintiff's deceased husband (M), and S, M's longtime friend and attorney, for, inter alia, tortious interference with contractual relations, in connection with the plaintiff and M's antenuptial agreement, and tortious interference with the plaintiff's right of inheritance from M's estate. The antenuptial agreement provided the plaintiff with a life estate in certain real property in Stamford, where the plaintiff and M had resided. Six months after their marriage, M was diagnosed with cancer. Before undergoing palliative surgery, M signed his first will, which was prepared by S. The plaintiff alleged that, the day after signing that will, M gave her a handwritten note memorializing certain discussions that they purportedly had had about amending the antenuptial agreement to provide that the plaintiff be left certain of M's assets, including the Stamford home and two bank accounts, upon M's death. The plaintiff and M both engaged family law attorneys to represent them in negotiating the changes to the antenuptial agreement, but they never amended the agreement. After M's surgery, M executed a second will, which was prepared by an estate planning attorney. The second will did not reflect the proposed changes to the antenuptial agreement but, instead, placed M's residuary estate into a revocable trust that benefited his two adult children from a prior marriage, including C. Thereafter, M left the Stam- ford home he shared with the plaintiff and went to stay at his former wife's home, where M remained until his death. Thereafter, S submitted an application to the Probate Court for the admission of the second will. The plaintiff objected on the grounds that, when M executed the second will, he lacked testamentary capacity and was under the defen- dants' undue influence. The Probate Court admitted the second will to probate, finding that there was insufficient evidence to support either of the