Also known as: presumption case · presumption · presumptions
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Cases in which a statute or rule of law creates a presumption that certain facts or conditions exist, shifting the burden of producing evidence to the opposing party while leaving the burden of persuasion unchanged.
Penelope Price revoked a bequest to her nephew after mistakenly believing he had died. When the nephew survived, the court applied the presumption that the revocation was ineffective because it rested on a false assumption. Evidence later showed that Penelope would have revoked the bequest anyway for unrelated reasons, so the presumption was rebutted and the revocation stood.
Paige Porter sent a letter to her husband describing business dealings. Prosecutors sought the letter in a criminal investigation. The court applied the presumption that spousal communications are confidential. The government failed to overcome the presumption with evidence of non-confidentiality, so the letter remained protected.
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Piper Patel and her sister executed mutual wills. After Piper's death her sister attempted to revoke her own will. The court applied the presumption that mutual wills do not create a contract not to revoke. No writing or will provision established such a contract, so the sister remained free to revoke.
Patrick Phan introduced evidence that a corporate defendant had received notice of a hazard. The defendant invoked a presumption of due care. Under the governing rule the defendant bore only the burden of producing rebuttal evidence. Because the defendant offered none, the presumption stood unrebutted on the production question.
Priscilla Parks gave birth while married to Patrick Phan. A later genetic test showed another man was the biological father. The court applied the presumption of parentage arising from the marriage. The presumption was overcome only after a judicial adjudication under the governing article, confirming the genetic father as the legal parent.
Priya Prasad signed a document labeled her last will that left her estate to a friend. Evidence showed the document was executed only to induce the friend to provide care during illness. The court applied the presumption of testamentary intent but admitted extrinsic evidence showing the document was a sham, rendering it ineffective as a will.
The party against whom the presumption is directed must produce evidence to rebut it. The rule does not shift the burden of persuasion, which remains on the party who originally bore it.
The presumption may be overcome only by an adjudication under Article 6 or a valid denial of parentage under Article 3. After the child reaches two years of age additional restrictions apply unless the presumed parent is not genetic or the child has multiple presumed parents.
The revocation is presumptively ineffective. The presumption is rebutted only if allowing the revocation to remain in effect would better match the testator's probable intention.
…596 S. W. 2d 209, 210 (Tex. App. 1980). The State has admitted that because of the sodomy law, being homosexual carries the presumption of being a criminal. See State v. Morales , 826 S. W. 2d, at 202-203 ("[T]he statute brands lesbians and gay men as criminals and thereby legally sanctions discrimination against them in a…