Merrill

In this heirship proceeding petitioner-appellant, Beverly Duffill Merrill, seeks to establish that she is an heir of her paternal grandmother, Martha J. Garey, who died testate in 1960. Petitioner claims to be a pretermitted heir.

Petitioner’s mother divorced her natural father in 1931, and married Gregor Merrill in 1933. The natural father, a son of the decedent, died in 1934. Gregor Merrill adopted petitioner in 1939 when she was 10 years old.

The only question to be determined is whether petitioner is an heir of decedent and as such entitled to succeed to the natural grandmother’s estate. This turns on the proper interpretation of section 257 of the Probate Code which, as amended in 1955, states: “An adopted child shall be deemed a descendant of one who has adopted him, the same as a natural child, for all purposes of succession by, from or through the adopting parent the same as a natural parent. An adopted child does not succeed to the estate of a natural parent when the relationship between them has been severed by adoption, nor does such natural parent succeed to the estate of such adopted child, nor does such adopted child succeed to the estate of a relative of the…