Estate of Piatt

The surviving husband of Mona Piatt filed his petition for a decree distributing to him certain real and personal property on the ground that it was community property of himself and the deceased. The surviving brothers and sisters of the deceased filed objections claiming under a prenuptial will. They are the appellants from a decree granting the petition.

The decedent executed her will on June 18, 1928, naming the appellants herein as beneficiaries. On July 12, 1930, the decedent and the petitioner herein intermarried. They lived together as husband and wife until the death of decedent on March 10, 1942. She made no changes in the will. The surviving husband, asserting that the will was revoked by the subsequent marriage, and that the entire estate was community property, sought a decree distributing it to him. In the appeal from the decree granting this petition appellants state these two issues—whether the will as a whole was revoked, and whether the property is separate or community. The solution of the first question (as modified by the existing conditions) rests on section 70 of the Probate Code which reads: “If a person marries after making a will, and the spouse survives…