Faraschuk v. Shaw

Mrs. Laura I. Faraschuk (hereafter “petitioner”) filed a petition (later amended) for determination of heirship in the matter of the estate of Laura B. O’Dea, also known as Laura Belle O’Dea, deceased, being probated in the Superior Court of El Dorado County, California. The court, sitting without a jury, entered judgment decreeing that petitioner had no interest, as an heir or otherwise, in said estate; this is an appeal therefrom.

A. Facts

1. Petitioner was bom on May 16, 1930, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the natural offspring of Laura Belle Hardekopf (hereafter “decedent”) and Herbert Isaac Conlin, who had been married in Edmonton on May 2, 1925.

2. Mrs. Stella Irene Shaw (hereafter “respondent”) is the administratrix of the decedent’s estate. Mrs. Shaw and her two brothers, Lewis V. Hardekopf and Herman Hardekopf, are the surviving siblings of decedent who, on September 16, 1968, died intestate in El Dorado County, California.

3. A separation agreement dated March 21, 1935, was entered into between petitioner’s parents whereby “the said Laura Belle Conlin shall have the sole control and custody of the infant children, James Gordon Conlin and Laura Irene Conlin…