Estate of Edwards

Files, McMurchie, Foley & Brandenburger and Stephen A. Brandenburger for Interveners and Respondents.

OPINION

PARAS, Acting P.J.

The State of California (State) appeals from a judgment of the Sacramento County Superior Court decreeing the escheated estate of William Edwards be paid over to certain claimant heirs, less statutory charges and inheritance taxes.

Edwards died intestate in Los Angeles on September 25, 1942, leaving a net estate of $21,149.43. We now know that all of his then surviving heirs were citizens and residents of Germany and Austria. [1] Accordingly, pursuant to Probate Code section 1026 (repealed in 1974), they succeeded to the estate upon death, subject to the condition that a "nonresident alien who becomes entitled to property by succession must appear and demand the property within five years from the time of succession; otherwise, his rights are barred and the property shall be disposed of as escheated property." (See Estate of Sorenson (1955) 44 Cal.2d 306, 307 [ 281 P.2d 870 ].)

None of the heirs appeared within the five-year period. On October 30, 1947, the probate court (Los Angeles County Superior Court) escheated the estate (the $21,149.43) to…