Estate of Murdock
Hypothetical Case
32 M.U.C. 352 (1983)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Sarah Hayes Murdock and Arthur Murdock got married after each having children in a previous marriage. Arthur’s will left his entire estate to Sarah, with remainder going to the children of his first marriage. Likewise, Sarah’s will left her entire estate to Arthur, with remainder going to the children of her first marriage. Arthur and Sarah died in the same plane crash, and the nature of their wills raised the question of who died first in order to determine the distribution of their assets. Linden, who arrived on the scene about ten minutes after the crash first found Sarah who had already died. He then saw Arthur and he wanted to testify that he heard Arthur whisper “I’m still alive.” Sarah’s children objected to the testimony and the trial court sustained the objection. Arthur’s children appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kaplan, J. and Waltz, J.)
Concurrence (Park, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
