Not surprisingly, in Hankins v. Bartlett the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that a contract between a husband and wife to make and keep in force reciprocal wills must satisfy the statute of frauds.  If you’re interested in why, keep reading.

It’s probably not a good idea to try to make an oral gift of land.  There’s a reason why the law does not look favorably on oral contracts to transfer land, and there’s a reason why proving an oral transfer of property is so difficult.  Not that it’s impossible.  While the Statute of Frauds generally requires transfer of an interest in land to be in writing, there are exceptions.

In Jones v. Kirk, the Georgia Supreme Court addressed the line between what is – and what is not – a valuable improvement to the subject property so as to move the needle in favor of an enforceable oral agreement to transfer real property.  Here’s a hint – moving your mobile home onto the land isn’t a “valuable improvement.”