get off (the soapbox)

one thing that pisses me off is cases decided based upon public policy. i'm reading a case where a man and his wife formed mutual contractual wills, so that when one of them died, their entire estate goes to the surviving spouse, and when the 2nd one died, it all goes to the kids. the wife dies, and the husband remarries. then he dies, of course. so now the 2nd wife is suing to get a portion of the estate, which goes to the kids by the contract. and the court lets this happen, due to "public policy" reasons. some bullshit about the protection of marriage and blah blah blah. listen, why not let people protect their own marriages? half the people in this country obviously dont find much sanctity in marriage anyway. this guy was married the 2nd time who knows how long before he died. he could've rewritten his will. he didn't. if he wanted his 2nd wife to get all or part of his estate he should have rewritten his will. maybe he didnt want her to get it (and in most states there is a strong inclination to find some doctrine that carries out the testator's intent). but no, here (florida of course...the state that can mess anything up) "public policy" dictated that the 2nd wife should receive a claim to part of the estate. listen, if i wanted someone to dance around the law and make up bullshit justifications for their decisions, i would've voted for W.