In re Estate of Christensen: Utah Rejects Contemplation of Marriage Standard in Omitted Spouse Cases

In In re Estate of Christensen, the Utah Supreme Court rejected the traditional requirement that a specific gift to a surviving spouse, made by a will executed prior to the decedent's marriage to that spouse, must have been made in contemplation of that marriage in order to prevent the surviving spouse from taking under the omitted spouse statute. In so doing, the court held that if the gift is not shown to have been made in contemplation of marriage, the burden is on the surviving spouse to establish that the gift does not "provide by will for [the] surviving spouse" within the meaning of the statute. The statute, a verbatim enactment of the corresponding Uniform Probate Code section, provides that where the testator marries after the execution of the will, and where the will does not provide for the spouse, the surviving spouse may take a share of the estate equal to that which would have been received had the testator died intestate.