Redingler

This is a controversy relating to death benefits under the County Employees Retirement Law, Government Code, sections 31450-31822, between Georgina Youle, the former wife of the deceased, appellant, Adrian A. Youle, and Ina Mae Youle, also known as Ina Mae Brown, his common-law wife, and Eudora M. Hutt, the administratrix of the estate, respondents herein.

Adrian A. Youle and the appellant were married on January 11, 1941. Trouble developed in the marriage as early as 1943. In February 1945, the deceased moved to the home of his sister, Mrs. Fritz, at 3447 Louise Street in Oakland. Georgina Youle “was supposed to go there and live but did not go.” She remained in her apartment at 1473 - 8th Street with her daughter; the deceased had a key to the apartment and occasionally spent time with her and the child. Appellant’s complaint for divorce, filed in August 1946, stated that she and her husband separated in March 1946.

On March 11, 1945, about a month after the death of Mrs. Fritz, the respondent, then known as Ina Mae Brown, moved in as the decedent’s housekeeper and continued to live there with him until his death on February 7, 1955. On April 4, 1946, she signed an installment…