In Re Estate of Roberson

BAMATTRE-MANOUKIAN, Acting P.J.

Clifford Roberson promised his companion of twenty years, Ruth Carpontier, that he would provide support for her for the rest of her life and that he would leave her the home they shared in his will. He wrote and executed a will leaving her all his worldly possessions, including the home, and naming her executor. Upon his death she probated the will and it was contested by Roberson's mother and was eventually found to be invalid because it was not properly witnessed. Carpontier then filed a petition in the probate seeking imposition of a constructive trust, and alleging breach of an oral contract for support and breach of an oral contract to make a will and other related claims.

Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2 (hereafter, section 366.2) provides that "[i]f a person against whom an action may be brought on a liability of the person, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, and whether accrued or not accrued, dies before the expiration of the applicable limitations period, and the cause of action survives, an action may be commenced within one year after the date of death, and the limitations period that would have been applicable does…