Judge allows wife of Ernie Banks to challenge Cubs great's will in estate case

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A judge authorized the wife of late Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks to file new causes of action against the woman alleged to have been Banks' caregiver at the end of his life.

The ruling follows a hearing Monday in which a judge was tasked with determining whether Banks' will could be admitted or if it should be discarded.

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Banks signed his will three months before his death in 2015. In his will, he allowed for his estate to go to longtime friend Regina Rice, not his wife and children.

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Banks and wife Elizabeth were in the process of divorcing at the time of his death.

Lawyers for Elizabeth Banks have long argued that the Cubs legend's mental state was too diminished to have disinherited his longtime wife and all of his children.

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The new causes of action that Elizabeth Banks is filing against Rice include fraud, financial exploitation of an elderly person, breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference with an expected inheritance.

Banks' lawyers say the new causes of action stem from recently uncovered evidence that Banks' last will and trust was either incorrectly dated or changed after he signed it.

All parties involved are due back in court Oct. 23.