Bava Batra 148 – Changing One's Will

If a seriously ill person announced that all of his possessions should go to a certain person, but then changed his mind, saying that some possessions should go to someone else, what is the law? Has the ill person retracted his entire gift to the first person, or has he retracted only the part of the gift that he explicitly willed to someone else?

If it counts as complete retraction, then the first person receives nothing, whether the sick person dies or recovers, and the second person received his share: if the sick person recovers, as a gift, and if he dies, as inheritance.

However, if it is partial retraction, then if the sick person dies, the two receive their shares, but if he recovers, both receive nothing – as in the case of a sick person who leaves something over.

The law follows the first possibility.

Art: Jehan Georges Vibert - The Sick Doctor