Estate of Marti

The appeal herein was originally heard in Department One, and an opinion filed therein, upon which an order was made reversing the judgment of the superior court. Upon the petition of the respondents, a rehearing was granted, and the cause was afterwards argued before the court in Bank. The opinion rendered in Department is now adopted by the court in Bank, and for the reasons therein stated the judgment is reversed and the superior court is directed to enter a decree distributing the entire residue of the estate to the appellant. McFarland, J., Van Dyke, J., and Garoutte, J., concurred. The following is the opinion rendered in Department One, July 19, 1900: —

This appeal is from the decree of distribution in the above estate, and involves the construction of the will of the decedent. The will, after a bequest of certain personal property, contains the following provisions: — "Secondly. I give and bequeath to my wife, Elizabeth Jenny Marti, all the other property, real and personal, and wherever situated, of which I may die possessed [giving a description thereof]. I appoint my wife as executrix of this my last will and testament, to serve without bonds; with full *Page 668 power of disposition, and to manage the business, to sell, to lease, and manage the property without order of the court or interference whatever. "Upon the death of my wife, I desire that one half of the property bequeathed to her shall be devised by her to my relatives." The decedent left a surviving widow — the appellant herein — and three nieces, children of a deceased sister, who are the respondents. The property involved was the community property of the deceased and the appellant, and she has elected to take under the will. The superior court, after providing for the legacy of personal property, distributed the residue of the property to the…