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Notable Cases
Estate of Wong: A Will Contest
On the night of his untimely death on New Year's Eve in 1992, Tai-Kin Wong, a genetic researcher, wrote the following words on a piece of paper: "All Tai-Kin Wong's  Xi Zhao, my best half TKW 12-31-92." Wong, taken suddenly and mysteriously ill, died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. The cause of death was never determined. Xi Zhao, his business and domestic partner, took the piece of paper to a probate attorney who filed a petition for probate of the document as a will. Wong's father filed a will contest, asserting the document was not a will.
McManis Faulkner represented Zhao in the 17-day trial of the
case. William Faulkner and James McManis presented linguistics
and handwriting experts, as well as other witnesses, to win
a judgment from the Santa Clara County Superior Court that
the document was, in fact, the will of Tai-Kin Wong. The judge
found, on the evidence presented at trial, that the will demonstrated
the required testamentary intent. No case in California had
previously found that a symbol could be used in place of words
in a will.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal, in a decision that is called "questionable at best" by California Practice Guide Probate (The Rutter Group, 1999), reversed the judge's decision, holding that as a matter of law the words and symbols of the document were not sufficient to constitute a will. The appellate court's unfortunate decision completely ignored the expert testimony of a Stanford University linguist [citing the use of an arrow on the cover of a Talking Heads album cover among other sources] that the symbol meant "goes to" and provided the necessary meaning to the document. In the words of California Practice Guide Probate, "the appellate court opinion does not convincingly demonstrate that the trial court's decision was clearly erroneous."
*Estate of Wong (Wong v. Zhao) (1995) 40 Cal.App. 4th 1198; 47 Cal.Rptr. 707)
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