Estate of Robert Wellford Lineweaver, Deceased, North Carolina Trust Company, Executor - Page 19

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          event, the language of the respective wills does not lend                   
          assistance in determining the intent of decedent and Kathleen in            
          executing the 1980 Deed of Separation.                                      
               Kathleen's testimony at trial is of minimal assistance due             
          to her limited recollection of events 14 years ago.6  A review of           
          the chronological evolution of the drafts of the Deed of                    
          Separation and Kathleen's deposition testimony in early 1983 in             
          the equitable distribution action provide the most probative and            
          most contemporaneous construction of the Deed of Separation.                
               There are two drafts and the final version of the life                 
          insurance paragraph of the Deed of Separation, numbered paragraph           
          12 in the final version and numbered paragraph 11 in the two                
          drafts.  In both drafts and in the final version, the first                 
          sentence recites that decedent had various life insurance                   
          policies of which Kathleen and/or the children were the                     
          beneficiaries.7  The second sentence in both drafts and in the              

          6  The testimony of the various lawyers involved in drafting                
          the Deed of Separation, in drafting the 1984 and 1987 wills, and            
          in prosecuting or defending the equitable distribution action was           
          generally conclusory and not particularly informative on the                
          critical issue in this case.  None of them had any files or notes           
          on the issue in this case.  Mr. Frazier admitted he was simply a            
          scrivener writing down the parties' wishes in the Deed of                   
          Separation and not representing either spouse.  Mr. Johnson knew            
          nothing about the Deed of Separation or the nature of the                   
          domestic matter his firm had handled for decedent.  It is not               
          clear that in 1984 and 1987 Mr. Johnson even knew about                     
          Kathleen's remarriage.                                                      
          7  In fact the children were not beneficiaries of any of the                
          policies at the time the Deed of Separation was executed or                 
                                                             (continued...)           




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