One of the lawyers called it a sex contract, but the woman who was Harvey Strother's mistress for eight years and is trying to win her right to about $6 million said it was simply a way she and Strother worked out their disputes on paper.

Anne Melican, in her second day of testimony as she seeks to persuade a jury that Strother's mind was sound when he include her in his will, said that Strother, who was a lawyer, liked to write things down.

AJC

Anne Melican

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"Either of us can say no to sex, with negotiable terms for later (without over-reacting)," is one of 10 points on a sheet of paper signed by Melican and Strother and presented at the Cobb County Probate Court jury trial on Thursday.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes, who represents the will's executor, called it a "sex contract" when he questioned Melican about it. She said Strother, a lawyer who got into the car business instead of practicing law, liked to commit points to paper when they were arguing.

When Strother died at 78 in 2004, he left an estate estimated at $38 million and a 1988 will he amended three times in his last four years, each change bestowing money or property on Melican.

Strother separated from his wife, Betty, in 2000, but never divorced her and left her half of his estate.

His heirs are challenging the changes to the will. They allege that Strother, who owned five car dealerships in Marietta and Valdosta and property in Florida and Marietta, was addled by alcoholism and pressured by Melican when he made the changes.

At the end of his life — shortly before he died of congestive heart failure — Strother was drinking about 1 1/2 gallons of wine per day, according to testimony.

One of the points Strother added to his will a few weeks before he died said that anyone who contested the will would be disinherited.

At stake for Melican, who lived with Strother when he went to Florida, is property on Marco Island, a $7,900 monthly allowance and health insurance for life.

The paper Barnes referred to as the sex contract also included an agreement to buy Melican a Jaguar "as soon as possible," the document says. It also includes points about Strother's drinking habits and where Melican would live.

On the drinking, Melican wrote: "You will not get trashed ever again."

On the living situation: "You will never ask me to leave the house. I can live in the house forever with mother."

Melican said after she and Strother began living together, she worked as a life coach and would have male clients in the home.

"No male clients in the condo," is another item on the document.