## Facts

- Agnes Bates Hook and Donal D. Hook executed an antenuptial agreement two days before their marriage and signed it on the morning of the wedding, along with reciprocal wills prepared through Donal’s attorney.
- The antenuptial agreement provided that each spouse relinquished legal claims to the other’s estate; Agnes thereby waived any right to take from Donal’s estate at his death.
- Absent the agreement, Agnes would have been entitled to a statutory share of Donal’s estate as surviving spouse.
- Donal later executed a new will leaving Agnes nothing, filed for divorce (first in Illinois and later in Ohio), and died while the Ohio divorce action was pending.
- After Donal’s death, Agnes sought to invalidate the antenuptial agreement, asserting lack of good faith and inadequate disclosure of Donal’s assets.
- The probate court and court of appeals found inadequate disclosure and set aside the agreement; the Supreme Court of Ohio reviewed and reversed.

## Issues

1. Whether an antenuptial agreement that eliminates a surviving spouse’s participation in the decedent’s estate is invalid as contrary to Ohio public policy.
2. Whether a wholly disproportionate antenuptial provision is enforceable when the proponent shows full disclosure of the nature, extent, and value of assets or full knowledge by the spouse.
3. Whether the record supported invalidation of the agreement for lack of good faith and inadequate disclosure.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Ohio reversed and held the antenuptial agreement valid and enforceable.
- The Court reaffirmed that Ohio law permits parties to waive all rights in each other’s estates by antenuptial agreement.
- Treating the waiver as disproportionate compared to statutory rights, the Court applied burden shifting and concluded the executor and beneficiaries satisfied the requirement of full disclosure or full knowledge.
- The Court rejected the lower courts’ conclusion that the agreement was void for lack of good faith or inadequate disclosure, and denied restoration of Agnes’s statutory spousal rights.

## Legal Principles

- Ohio permits antenuptial agreements that entirely exclude a spouse from participation in the other spouse’s estate, subject to minimum requirements of good faith and fairness.
- An agreement to marry creates a confidential relationship; antenuptial agreements are scrutinized for fairness under the circumstances.
- If the provision for the spouse is wholly disproportionate to the other party’s means and to what the spouse would receive by law, the burden shifts to the proponent to prove either:
  - full disclosure of the nature, extent, and value of the property, or
  - the spouse’s full knowledge of that property.
- A disproportionate agreement remains binding when entered voluntarily after full disclosure or with full knowledge; inequality of outcome alone does not establish bad faith.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court of Ohio enforced an antenuptial waiver that left the surviving spouse with no share of the decedent’s estate, holding that complete spousal disinheritance is permissible when the proponent proves adequate disclosure or the spouse’s sufficient knowledge and the agreement satisfies good-faith and fairness requirements.


Hook v. Hook, 69 Ohio St. 2d 234, 431 N.E.2d 667 (Ohio 1982)