Union of Wills

A Spanish community property principle that the community persists only as long as there is a joint union of wills to be married. Arizona has recognized this principle only in one very extreme situation. In In re Marriage of Fong, the parties married in China. Prior to the start of World War II, the husband, an American, came to the United States. After the war was over, he received word from China that Wife had died. Their son was sent to live with him. Husband remarried the next year. Ten years later, he visited China. There, he saw Wife but she introduced herself to him as her sister. In 1972, Husband discovered she was alive. In that extreme situation, the Court determined the marriage had actually ended in 1947 when Husband remarried because he had, in good faith, believed his Wife to be dead, and his will to the union ended on that date. Subsequent cases have limited this doctrine to extreme circumstances only.