<P> Before applying the doctrine, courts may require (with rare exceptions) that there have been an alternative plan of disposition of the property . That is, after revoking the prior will, the testator could have made an alternative plan of disposition . Such a plan would show that the testator intended the revocation to result in the property going elsewhere, rather than just being a revoked disposition . Secondly, courts require either that the testator have recited their mistake in the terms of the revoking instrument, or that the mistake be established by clear and convincing evidence . For example, when the testator made the original revocation, he must have erroneously noted that he was revoking the gift "because the intended recipient has died" or "because I will enact a new will tomorrow ." </P> <P> DRR may be applied to restore a gift erroneously struck from a will if the intent of the testator was to enlarge that gift, but will not apply to restore such a gift if the intent of the testator was to revoke the gift in favor of another person . For example, suppose Tom has a will that bequeaths $5,000 to his secretary, Alice Johnson . If Tom crosses out that clause and writes "$7,000 to Alice Johnson" in the margin, but does not sign or date the writing in the margin, most states would find that Tom had revoked the earlier provision, but had not effectively amended his will to add the second; however, under DRR the revocation would be undone because Tom was acting under the mistaken belief that he could increase the gift to $7,000 by writing that in the margin . Therefore, Alice will get 5,000 dollars . However, the doctrine of relative revocation will not apply if the interlineation decreases the amount of the gift from the original provision (e.g., "$5,000 to Alice Johnson" is crossed out and replaced with "$3,000 to Alice Johnson" without Testator's signature or the date in the margin; DRR does not apply and Alice Johnson will take nothing). </P> <P> Similarly, if Tom crosses out that clause and writes in the margin "$5,000 to Betty Smith" without signing or dating the writing, the gift to Alice will be effectively revoked . In this case, it will not be restored under the doctrine of DRR because even though Tom was mistaken about the effectiveness of the gift to Betty, that mistake does not affect Tom's intent to revoke the gift to Alice . Because the gift to Betty will be invalid for lack of proper execution, that $5,000 will go to Tom's residuary estate . </P> <P> Also referred to as "electing to take against the will ." In the United States, many states have probate statutes which permit the surviving spouse of the decedent to choose to receive a particular share of deceased spouse's estate in lieu of receiving the specified share left to him or her under the deceased spouse's will . As a simple example, under Iowa law (see Code of Iowa Section 633.238 (2005)), the deceased spouse leaves a will which expressly devises the marital home to someone other than the surviving spouse . The surviving spouse may elect, contrary to the intent of the will, to live in the home for the remainder of his / her lifetime . This is called a "life estate" and terminates immediately upon the surviving spouse's death . </P>

Which of the following is not common to most wills