Estate of Mercer

This appeal involves the right to letters of administration upon the estate of Anna B. Mercer, deceased, and, as a necessary consequence, the right of succession to that portion of her estate which was formerly the community property of herself and her predeceased husband, William L. Mercer. The facts are not in dispute.

On and prior to June 9, 1873, and for thirty-five years thereafter, the above-named parties were wife and husband. On said date the husband, with the express written consent in open court of the wife, regularly adopted as his child one Hermina Augusta Tappendorf, then aged two years, the decree reciting: “ . . . and she is hereby declared henceforth and forever to be the lawfully adopted child of the said W. L. Mercer, and that henceforth and forever she shall be regarded and treated in all respects as the child of the said W. L. Mercer.”

The child was reared in said family, and is now known in the record as Hermina A. Hansbrough. After accumulating considerable community property, the said William L. Mercer died testate on November 16, 1908, bequeathing the bulk of his estate to his widow, decedent herein. Later and on October 5, 1927, Anna B. Mercer died…