Court Opinion

ID: 9718542
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:27:00.134609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:00.306741
License: Public Domain

DAY, J.
(dissenting). I dissent in this case for the same reasons I explained in In re Estate of Blumreich, ante, p. 545, 267 N.W.2d 870 (1978). Sec. 852.05(1), Stats. (1975) denies posthumous illegitimates equal protection and due process. Having found sec. 852.05(1) unconstitutional, I would hold that a posthumous illegitimate may bring a declaratory judgment action to have his paternity established.
The fact of this case, even more than those in the Blumreich cases, show how sec. 852.05(1), Stats., denies equal protection and due process to posthumous illegitimates such as Eric Robinson. Robinson’s mother, Susan Taft, had sexual relations with no man other than Keith Larson prior to October 27, 1972. On that day, Susan Taft was given a pregnancy test that Mr. Larson paid for. The test showed that she was pregnant. Larson never questioned that he was the father of the child. He told friends that he was the father and that he and Ms. Taft were going to be married.
On October 29, 1972, two days after Larson found out that Ms. Taft was pregnant, he was killed in a car-truck *586collision. At the time of Larson’s death, the receipt from the pregnancy test was in his billfold.
The majority opinion holds that sec. 852.05(1), Stats, does not deny Eric Robinson equal protection or due process.
“We do not believe the classifications reflected in the statutes under consideration are proscribed by either state or federal constitutional provisions. The statutes accord illegitimate children the same rights accorded children born in wedlock, provided only that they establish their parentage in a manner recognized by the statutes.”
Sec. 852.05(1), Stats., does not accord illegitimate children the same rights. Illegitimate children may not inherit from or recover for the wrongful death of their fathers unless there is a paternity adjudication or an acknowledgment in writing or in open court. With any posthumous illegitimate, these are nearly impossible requirements. A pre-natal paternity proceeding is as unlikely as the written acknowledgment of a fetus.
In this case, the requirements of sec. 852.05(1), Stats., are especially onerous. Less than forty-eight hours passed from the time that Larson found out that Ms. Taft was pregnant until Larson died in the collision. During that time Larson was required by 852.05(1) to be adjudged the father in a paternity action or to acknowledge in writing that the fetus of Eric Robinson would one day be his child. As might be expected, Larson failed to meet the requirements of the statute. This failure means that Eric Robinson is forever barred from inheriting from his father and from receiving wrongful death benefits. In terms of equal protection, sec. 852.05(1) creates invidious discrimination against posthumous illegitimates. In terms of due process the statute creates an irrebut-table presumption that prevents posthumous illegitimates from establishing their paternity. Blumreich, supra.
I would affirm the order of the trial court.
*587I am authorized to state that Justice Shirley S. Abra-hamson concurs in this dissent.