115 Ind. App. 485 - Lawrence v. Ashba’s Empirical Analysis
1945
Citation profile
26 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 28 later decisions — most recently September 1994 · most notably Duggan v. Keto (1989), Godwin v. Wachovia Bank & Trust Company (1963)
26 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on 9 E.H. Smith 555 - Edson v. . Parsons · Plemmons v. Pemberton · Young v. Biehl · Sample v. Butler University · Brown v. Johanson
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The burden of proving that mutual and reciprocal wills were made pursuant to a valid and enforceable contract is upon those who assert such to be true, and the evidence thereof must be full and satisfactory. Indeed, the rule requires the agreement to be established by evidence clear, definite, convincing, unequivocal and satisfactory, and to be valid and enforceable the contract must be fair and just,'definite and certain in its terms and as to the subject matter, and based upon sufficient consideration. The mere fact that the wills under consideration contain identical provisions and that they were drawn by the same scrivener, executed at the same time and before the same witnesses, with full knowledge on the part of each testator of the contents of both wills, and were clearly made for the accomplishment of a common purpose, is not sufficient evidence of a contract to make wills to remain unrevoked until the deaths of the testators, although such circumstances are to be regarded as some evidence that they were made pursuant to an agreement. But where the contract does not appear in the language of the wills, and so the wills, unaided, are not sufficient to show the contract, the agreement may be proven by the testimony of witnesses who know the facts, by admissions of the parties and by the acts and conduct of the parties and other circumstances surrounding the making of the wills.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Brown v. Edwards““A will is generally ambulatory until the death of the testator, and mutual and reciprocal wills, unless founded on or embodying a binding contract, may be revoked at pleasure.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“when well and fairly founded, and will not suffer one of the contracting parties to defraud and defeat [her] obligation, but will fasten a trust upon the property involved.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Brown v. Edwards
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.