Gift to pretermitted child’s other parent prevents child’s claim notwithstanding divorce

The decedent made a will giving all his estate to his spouse, omitting children from a prior marriage. The decedent and his spouse had a child, then divorced. The decedent died without changing his will.  Under Alabama law, all provisions for the ex-spouse are revoked. The child claimed an intestate share of the decedent’s estate under the pretermitted child statute. The statute creates an exception if, when the will was executed, the decedent had one or more children and substantially all of the estate is given to the parent of the omitted child. In Gray v. Gray, 947 So. 2d 1045 ( Ala. 2006) , the court held that the exception applied to the instant situation, even though the children living at the time of execution of the will were the not the children of the decedent’s then spouse.