Estate of Barreiro

This appeal is from a decree of partial distribution by the three minor children of the deceased and by the executor of the last will and testament of Benigno Barreiro, deceased. The respondent is the mother of the children and the divorced wife of decedent. She petitioned the court for a partial distribution of the estate, which the court ordered. By the will of decedent all of his estate was devised and bequeathed to the three children. The respondent asserted her right to take one-half of the estate, claiming that the property was the community property of herself and deceased. By stipulation of all the parties all the property of the estate, other than 1,000 shares of the capital stock of a Mexican corporation known as the Compañía de Inversiones de la Baja California, S. A., appraised at $500,000, was expressly excluded from the scope of the application and the hearing. The court found that of the 1,000 shares, one-fifth, or $100,000 worth, was separate property, and that the remainder was community property. In arriving at this result the court found that two parcels of real property which had been owned by the deceased at the time of his marriage and continuously thereafter…