McCuen v.Huey, 255 S.W.3d 716 (Tex. App.—Waco 2008, no pet.).
In an extremely complex fact pattern involving mineral royalty
interests which is fortunately not particularly relevant for our
purposes, the appellate court held that “to be effective, a disclaimer
of an inheritance is enforceable against the maker only when it has been
made with adequate knowledge of that which is being disclaimed.” McCuen,
at 731. By noting the case of Nw. Nat’l Cas. Co. v. Doucette, 817 S.W.2d
396 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1991, writ denied), the court acknowledged
that this case is significantly different from cases which hold that a
disclaimer may be effective even if the disclaimant is mistaken not
about what property is being disclaimed, but rather about to whom the
disclaimed property would pass. Accordingly, the court held that the
alleged disclaimer in this case was ineffective because the disclaimant
did not knowingly disclaim the disputed royalty interests.
Moral: Disclaimers should be carefully drafted to enumerate the property
being disclaimed to avoid a later argument that the disclaimant did not
understand what property was being disclaimed.