McKenzie v. Creeks

Monroe Thomas McKenzie and Janet Turner appeal a judgment denying them, as stepchildren of Bessie Claffey, any entitlement to Claffey’s estate. They contend the trial court prejudicially erred in instructing the jury to find a “family relationship,” rather than a mere stepchild/ stepparent relationship, as a prerequisite to their intestate succession.

I

Thomas and Janet are the children of John and Edythe McKenzie. The McKenzies were divorced in March 1934. Custody of Thomas and Janet, 10 and 7 years of age respectively at the time of divorce, was granted to the mother pursuant to stipulation of the parties. Thereafter John married Bessie Stokes in April 1935. After John’s death in 1948, Bessie married Edward Claffey from whom she obtained a divorce in 1953. Bessie died intestate in April 1985.

On August 30, 1985, Thomas and Janet filed statements of claim of interest in the estate. (Prob. Code, § 1080.) The statements contain no allegation they lived with their father and Bessie. Nonetheless, they claimed as stepchildren they were Bessie’s “closest heirs at law,” because a “parent/child relationship” arose upon her marriage to John. They attribute Bessie’s failure to…