Also known as: expresses contrary intent · expressed contrary intent · expressing contrary intent · expression of contrary intent · express intent to the contrary · contrary intent
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A clear statement or provision in a legal instrument or the surrounding facts showing that the parties or testator intend a result different from the default rule that would otherwise govern the transaction or disposition.
Esme Ellington conveyed multiple lots in a planned subdivision to buyers using deeds that expressly stated no servitudes for common roads or parks would arise from the general plan. When one buyer later claimed an implied right to use an undesignated access road shown on the plat, the court held that the explicit disclaimer in the deeds prevented any implied servitude from forming.
Edgar Evers executed a will leaving property to his daughters while unmarried, then married Eva Espinosa two days later without revising the document. At probate, the daughters argued the marriage revoked the will by operation of law, but the court permitted extrinsic evidence that Evers had intended the will to remain effective despite the marriage.
Alicia Erickson, the daughter of decedent Ronald K. Erickson, appealed from a trial court judgment that affirmed the Probate Court’s decree admitting her father’s will to probate in favor of defendant Dorothy Erickson, the executrix of the estate. On September 1, 1988, the decedent executed a will while unmarried and the father of three daughters. Two days later, on September 3, 1988, he married the defendant. He died on February 22, 1996. The will named the defendant as executrix and guardian of the decedent’s daughters and included among its beneficiaries the defendant’s four children—Thomas Mehring, Christopher Mehring, Maureen Mehring, and Kathleen Mehring—whose identities the trial court admitted into evidence. The plaintiff filed a motion in limine before trial seeking to limit proof to the will, the marriage certificate, and the death certificate. The defendant responded with a detailed offer of proof concerning the decedent’s intent and his communications with his attorney. The trial court granted the motion in limine as to most extrinsic evidence of intent but denied it regarding the beneficiaries’ identities. It then concluded after a de novo hearing that the will’s provisions and the two-day interval between execution and marriage supplied clear and convincing evidence that the instrument accounted for the contingency of marriage. The plaintiff appealed to the Appellate Court, which transferred the case to the Supreme Court pursuant to Practice Book § 4023 and General Statutes § 51-199 (c). The defendant cross-appealed the evidentiary ruling excluding the balance of her proffered proof.
View caseExpress contrary intent prevents merger when the parties clearly agree that non-title covenants, such as those addressing physical condition or repairs, will survive closing. Without such an indication, covenants concerning physical condition remain enforceable after delivery of the deed.
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A vendor purchase money mortgage receives priority over a third-party purchase money mortgage unless the parties manifest a contrary intent in the transaction documents. Simultaneous recording alone does not override this default hierarchy.
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Words of survivorship alone do not automatically constitute express contrary intent sufficient to displace an antilapse statute. Courts examine whether the will contains a clear alternative disposition or other indication that the testator intended the gift to fail if the beneficiary predeceases.
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…not explicitly aid Jennifer. The policy underlying § 22 might fairly be seen as supporting, as a rule of construction (absent a contrary intent), the substitution of a class member’s surviving issue for a deceased class member if the class is made up of children or other relations of the testator. See Bigelow v. Clap , 166 Mass.…