Estate of Goulart

There are two appeals: one, from a judgment for proponents in a will contest tried to a jury; and the other, from a judgment determining interests in the estate under the will.

Decedent, Louise Goulart, was born in the Azores in 1878. In the early part of the present century, she came to California to make her home with Jose P. and Louise Amaral. This couple, being childless, wished to adopt her, but could not do so under the law at that time because she was an adult. She lived with the two until the death of the aunt in 1935. In 1952, the law having been changed to allow the adoption of an adult, Jose P. Amaral adopted Louise Goulart. She was then 74 years old. She did not, however, change her name. He declared that she had been as a daughter to him and that he could repay her for services to him only by giving her security and leaving her his estate. She kept house for him. He died in 1953 and devised his estate to her.

The challenged will of Louise Goulart is dated September 18, 1957. She died on January 24, 1960. She had never married. The will leaves her whole estate (except small bequests for Masses), which she had received from her adoptive parent, of value…