CBS newsman Charles Kuralt kept a second family for 29 years, and a letter from his hospital bed gave his mistress his Montana land

Charles Kuralt was CBS's roving reporter on "On the Road." In 1968 he met Patricia Elizabeth Shannon in Reno. For 29 years he kept a relationship with her while married to Suzanna "Petie" Baird. He bought land on the Big Hole River in Montana, 20 acres in 1985 and about 90 more in 1987. A handwritten will of 1989 left the Montana land to Shannon. His formal will of 4 May 1994 did not. On 9 April 1997 he deeded the 20-acre parcel to Shannon as a "sale" paid with $80,000 he supplied. On 18 June 1997, from a New York hospital bed, he wrote to her: "I'll have the lawyer visit the hospital to be sure you inherit the rest of the place in MT. if it comes to that." He died on 4 July, aged 62, before any new will was signed. His widow learned of the affair after his death. Shannon argued the letter was a codicil. In May 1999 the Montana Supreme Court sent the case to trial. The district court held the letter a valid handwritten codicil, and on 27 December 2000 the Supreme Court affirmed unanimously. Shannon took the 90 acres, valued at about $600,000. In 2003 the court ruled the estate taxes came from the residue, not from her. His widow died before the trial^†. In 2026 the three rulings stand as published Montana Supreme Court decisions.