White v. White, 316 Neb. 616

Yvonne M. White and Leonard P. White executed a premarital agreement in 2016 shortly before marrying; Leonard later died in 2018.
The premarital agreement provided that Yvonne would receive $100,000 from Leonard’s estate if she survived him, and that personal and household articles acquired after marriage would be jointly owned unless otherwise agreed.
After Leonard’s death, his sons (Jamison and Ryan White) became copersonal representatives of his estate and sought to treat a camper and the $100,000 as estate assets, not Yvonne’s property.
Yvonne sued the estate representatives, alleging breach of contract for nonpayment and wrongful claim to the camper.
The district court awarded Yvonne the $100,000 and the camper; the Court of Appeals affirmed, and the estate representatives sought further review in the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Yvonne's claims were time-barred under the nonclaim statute (§ 30-2485)	Her claims were not subject to the nonclaim statute; these were breach of contract and property title actions	Claims were not timely filed as required by probate law	Yvonne's claims were not “claims” under statute; nonclaim statute did not apply
Entitlement to $100,000 under premarital agreement	She was entitled under the explicit contract provision	She failed to timely assert her right under the probate claim process	Yvonne is entitled due to a valid contract to make a will; remedy is breach of contract
Ownership of the camper	Camper is marital property under the premarital agreement, acquired after marriage	Camper was Leonard’s separate property; acquired with his funds and titled in his name	Camper is joint marital property under clear language of agreement
Reimbursement to estate for costs associated with camper	Not specifically addressed	Estate should be reimbursed for costs paid on the camper	Not considered as it was not specifically assigned as error on appeal

In re Estate of Stuchlik, 289 Neb. 673 (valid contract for wills creates breach of contract action, not a traditional probate claim)
Johnson v. Anderson, 278 Neb. 500 (requirements for proving existence of a contract to make a will)
In re Estate of Chaney, 232 Neb. 121 (title disputes are not probate 'claims' under the Nebraska Probate Code)
Philp v. First Nat. Bank & Trust Co., 212 Neb. 791 (breach of contract claims from valid contracts to make a will are not subject to statutory claim limitations)