In California if a person dies without a will and has owned real property with a predeceased spouse within the preceding 15 years, the heirs at law of the predeceased spouse have a claim to one-half of the real property. Rochelle claimed to be the daughter of Clarence who was the predeceased spouse of Jessie Lee Anderson. Jessie Lee Anderson and Clarence Anderson had owned a house in Oakland together before Clarence died. On Jessie Lee Anderson's death Rochelle therefore had a claim to one-half of the value of the house. Orange Pierson had been married to Jessie Lee Anderson 40 years prior to her death but had separated after a few years, had married Daisy and sired a number of children. Orange and Jessie had never obtained a legal divorce. In the probate of the Estate of Jessie Lee Anderson, Orange Pierson stepped forward to claim half of her estate as surviving spouse. Rochelle consulted the office of Norman E. Reitz. We established first that she was the daughter of Clarence Anderson and the Court ruled that it was not equitable [would not be fair] for Orange Pierson to receive any portion of Jessie Lee Anderson's estate because he had never contributed to the acquisition of the estate and particularly had never contributed towards the purchase of the house. The Alameda County Superior Court awarded one-half of the real property to Rochelle Anderson. The First Appellate District of the Court of Appeals of the State of California upheld the decision.
See Estate of Jessie Lee Anderson,
deceased 60 Cal. App. 4th 436; 70 Cal.
Rptr. 2nd 266 [1997].