Estate of Newman

This appeal involves the application of the so-called in-law inheritance statute, former Probate Code section 229, to the distribution of the estate of Jess Stanley Newman, who died on July 29, 1983. Cecil C. Finn, a nephew of Jess’s predeceased wife Frances Elizabeth Newman, filed a petition alleging Jess’s entire probate estate should go to Frances’s blood relatives pursuant to section 229, subdivision (b)(5). The estate consists entirely of real property originally acquired by Frances as her separate property by deed from her mother. The trial court found Frances’s former separate property had been transmuted into community property prior to her death on November 12, 1982. It distributed one-half of Jess’s probate estate to Jess’s blood relatives and one-half to Frances’s blood relatives, presumably under former section 229, subdivision (b)(2).

Finn raises two issues on appeal. First, he contends there is insufficient evidence Frances intended to transmute her separate property into community property. Second, and more importantly, he asserts the character of the property at Frances’s death is irrelevant. Citing Estate of Reizian (1951) 36 Cal.2d 746 [ 227 P.2d 249 ],…