On July 7, 1993, Gloria Franklin of Ten-nessee executed a handwritten will con-taining the following language (including grammatical and spelling errors):

I Gloria Franklin leaves everything I own inclouding farm, vehickles every-thing to Jess & Terry Waltman in case I die on my way to & from Jersey.

Gloria did not die on her trip to New Jer-sey.  Upon her death six years later, the will was submitted for probate, but a trial court denied the probate petition.  The court determined that the will was condi-tional, and the contingency upon which the will depended (Gloria’s death on her way to or from Jersey) had not occurred.  The court did not consider any oral testi-mony and did not make any attempt to as-certain Gloria’s intent in writing the will.

The will’s beneficiaries (the Waltmans) appealed to the Tennessee Court of Ap-peals.  Without ruling on the validity of the will, the Court of Appeals vacated the trial court’s ruling and remanded it for further proceedings.  According to the Court of Appeals, the trial court should have received oral testimony to determine the intent of the decedent in drafting the will.  “In determining whether a will is conditional or contingent, a court must first determine ‘whether the happening of the possibility referred to is a condition precedent to operation of the will, or whether the possibility of the happening was only a statement of the motive or in-ducement which led to the preparation and execution of the instrument.’”