Court Opinion

ID: 9548307
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:01:21.37286+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:18:47.144266
License: Public Domain

WHITE, J.
I concur. At the time decedent married respondent the latter was operating a rooming house in Pittsburgh, which she sold prior to the time she and decedent moved to California. At the time they migrated to this state, respondent had about a thousand dollars, while decedent possessed no money or property. The property here in question was accumulated through the joint efforts of decedent and respondent, working side by side over a period of some 27 years. There is substantial evidence in the record to support the finding of the trial court that respondent, at the time of her marriage to decedent, and at all times thereafter, honestly believed that at the time of the marriage he was a single man.
Appellant contributed nothing toward the acquisition of the property here in question and evidenced no interest whatsoever in the existence of decedent for approximately 34 years prior to his death. She apparently awakened to her identity as his wife and her claimed interest by reason of such status only upon his demise and the disclosure of his interest in the property here involved. Under the facts present in the case at bar, I am persuaded that under the plainest principles of equity the property here in question should be divided as community property would be upon the dissolution by death of a valid marriage.