Recently, a potential client came to me with the claim that his sibling was guilty of tortious interference with expectancy of inheritance. Although I decided not to take on the client for several reasons, his correspondence brought to my attention a twist in the traditional tortious interference claim. While recently gaining traction in both the public eye and the legal field, the claim of tortious interference with expectancy of inheritance is actually quite old and its interpretations vary among different jurisdictions, including in Pennsylvania.

The claim has especially rose in prominence due to the matter of Marshall v. Marshall, a case from the early 2000s. Vickie Lynn Marshall—better known as Anna Nicole Smith—raised this claim against her stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, for allegedly interfering with an expectancy from her late husband's estate. Her husband, J. Howard Marshall II, died without providing for his wife in his will. Yet Smith claimed her husband had the intention of providing to her a "catch-all" trust. But her stepson, according to Smith, deliberately interfered with this gift by altering, destroying and falsifying documents that would have indicated J. Howard Marshall's intent toward his wife, Smith, among other various deceptive actions that were done together with an attorney of Marshall's. The case was complicated; decisions were reversed, and it ultimately ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court due to questions of jurisdiction. Eventually, after Smith had already passed away, the Supreme Court ruled that her estate was not entitled to the first, larger award it had been granted before.

Of course, most cases concerning tortious interference with expectancy of inheritance are not as high-profile as Marshall v. Marshall and its related suits. Yet, these cases do share a similar underlying intrigue—the belief that someone wrongfully interfered with one's right to inherit from a deceased's estate. It is not a stretch to say that being included in a will means one is close to the testator. Whether as a family member, close friend, or other loved one, inclusion in a will supports the testator's desire to provide for that person in some capacity when they (the testator) passed on from this life. To prevent a testator's dying wishes from being carried out is to wrong the beneficiary and disrespect the wishes of the testator. Yet, the defendant in these cases was also a beneficiary and thus close to the deceased. Unsurprisingly, these cases almost always involve the all too common and tragic story of family and other close relationships turning sour and deceitful.