Also known as: reciprocal will · mutual wills · mirror wills
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A pair of separate wills executed by two persons, typically spouses, containing substantially identical provisions that dispose of each testator's property to the other or to the same beneficiaries. Execution of such wills creates no presumption of a contract not to revoke either will.
Renata and Marco each sign mirror-image wills leaving their art collections to one another. They also sign a short handwritten note stating they will never revoke the wills without mutual consent. Renata later executes a new will favoring a museum. After her death Marco sues the museum, relying on the signed note to establish the required writing that evidences a contract concerning succession.
The Johnsons execute new reciprocal wills in which each leaves property to the other's relatives if the spouse predeceases. Mrs. Johnson later executes another will favoring her own family. After her death the court holds that the earlier reciprocal wills do not by themselves prove any contractual restriction on revocation.
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No. The execution of reciprocal or mirror-image wills creates no presumption of a contract not to revoke. A contract must be proved by one of the three statutory methods: material provisions stated in a will, an express reference in a will plus extrinsic evidence, or a separate signed writing evidencing the contract.
Supporting sources
A contract may be established only by provisions of a will stating its material terms, an express reference in a will to a contract together with extrinsic evidence of its terms, or a writing evidencing the contract and signed by the party alleged to have breached it.
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Some courts refuse probate for lack of testamentary intent as to the document actually signed. Other courts treat the error as a scrivener's mistake and reform the instruments to conform to the parties' obvious mutual intent.
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…not directly analogous with the present case, courts in other jurisdictions have also declined to reform or give effect to mutual wills that were mistakenly executed as a result of one testator erroneously signing the will prepared for the other. For example, in In re Estate of Pavlinko , 394 Pa. 564, 148 A.2d 528 (1959),…