Colin is very fond of his niece Anna. Unfortunately, though, Colin finds himself on his deathbed. So
Question:
Colin is very fond of his niece Anna. Unfortunately, though, Colin finds himself on his deathbed. So Colin asks his wife Beth to draw up a will for him, and she does so. However, Beth—who is not too fond herself of Anna—writes nothing for Anna into the will. When Beth presents the will that she drafted to Colin, he is highly upset to see that Anna is missing from it.
But time is short, and Colin is fading fast. So instead of redoing the will completely, Beth makes an oral agreement with Colin: if you sign this version of the will, I will give $20,000 to Anna within a reasonable time from the part that is left to me under the will. Colin thinks that Beth’s proposal sounds reasonable, so he agrees and promptly dies.
Three years pass, though, and Beth hasn’t paid a single cent to Anna. So Anna sues Beth for the $20,000, claiming that she is a third-party beneficiary to the oral contract that Colin made with Beth from his deathbed. Should the court find that Beth is liable to Anna for the $20,000?
A. No — Anna should sue Colin’s estate in order to collect on the provision in the will, not sue Beth personally
B. Yes — Anna was a party to the contract made on Colin’s deathbed, since she was mentioned when the deal was struck
C. No — it would not be fair to make Beth answer a suit made by Anna, who Beth does not like and never intended to help
D. Yes — Anna meets the definition of third-party beneficiary, so she can collect based on the contract made between Beth and Colin
Systems Analysis and Design
ISBN: 978-1133274636
9th Edition
Authors: Shelly Cashman, Gary B. Shelly and Harry J. Rosenblatt