Keefe

This is an appeal from a judgment entered upon an order of nonsuit in an action to enforce specific performance of an agreement alleged to have been made between plaintiff and his mother, Susan Keefe, deceased, where she promised to make a certain provision for him in her will.

Michael Keefe, the plaintiff’s father, died intestate, leaving at the time of his death two parcels of valuable real estate in the city and county of San Francisco, which estate was community property. One-half of his property was given his widow, Susan Keefe, and the other one-half descended to the five children of Michael and Susan Keefe. As one of such children plaintiff’s interest in the estate was therefore one-tenth.

At the time of the death of Michael Keefe, the plaintiff was in military service to the United States, and stationed in the Philippine Islands. With a view to looking after his interest in the estate he secured his discharge from the army, went to San Francisco, called upon his mother, the administratrix of the estate, and demanded his share of the property left by his father. The property was still in probate, undistributed, and this request of course could not be complied with. The…