Pool v. Estate of Shelby

Bessie Shelby had two sons, Kenneth Pool and W. C. Pool (collectively, the Pool brothers) (defendants), and one daughter, Louise Creekmore (plaintiff). In 1979 Shelby executed a will giving the majority of her estate to Creekmore. Five months later, in 1980, Shelby saw Patrick Brown, an attorney. Kenneth Pool had contacted Brown because Shelby wanted to regain some property she had given to Creekmore. After discussing the property, Brown asked Shelby about her estate. Shelby told Brown that she did not have a will and wanted her estate divided up equally among her children according to intestate succession. Accordingly, Brown had Shelby execute a document intended to be an affidavit of revocation. The affidavit stated that Shelby did not have a will and that if she had unknowingly executed a will, then she declared that will void. Shelby signed the affidavit, two other individuals signed as witnesses, and the affidavit was notarized. The affidavit did not contain an attestation clause. After Shelby’s death, Creekmore sought to admit Shelby’s 1979 will to probate. The Pool brothers argued that Shelby’s will had been revoked by the 1980 affidavit. The trial court admitted the will, holding that Shelby’s 1979 will was valid and the lack of an attestation clause meant the revocation was invalid. The court of appeals affirmed, and the Pool brothers appealed.