{"id":820,"date":"2015-06-12T00:32:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T00:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.krbecheklaw.com\/?p=820"},"modified":"2015-06-12T00:32:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T00:32:36","slug":"estate-of-britel-when-is-a-child-not-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/?p=820","title":{"rendered":"Estate of Britel – When is a Child Not a Child?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The law is filled with rules.\u00a0 Rules give guidance to judges.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the legal result does not square with the facts.\u00a0 In Estate of Britel<\/em> (2015) 236 Cal.App.4th 127, \u201cthe court admitted into evidence a DNA test showing a 99.9996 percent probability that the decedent (Amine Britel) was A.S.’s (the child\u2019s) father.\u201d\u00a0 Yet the court held that the child was not entitled receive any property under the law of intestate succession.\u00a0 How did this happen?<\/p>\n

When a person dies without a will, the judge will look to the law of intestate succession to determine who will receive the decedent\u2019s property.\u00a0 Explained the court of appeal, \u201cIntestate succession is governed entirely by statute.\u00a0 The heirs of a person are those whom the law appoints to succeed at the decedent’s death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs relevant here, if there is no surviving spouse or domestic partner of an intestate decedent, the intestate estate passes to the decedent’s \u2018issue\u2019 \u2026 For the purpose of determining intestate succession, the relationship of parent and child exists between a person and the person’s natural parents, regardless of the marital status of the natural parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds promising for the child.\u00a0 But here is where the argument ran ashore.\u00a0 The mother, Jackie Stennett, \u201ccontends biological parents are, by definition, natural parents within the meaning of [Probate Code] section 6450.\u00a0 Not so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Law<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, when child born out of wedlock wants to show he is the natural child of a man who died without leaving a will, the statute requires \u201cclear and convincing evidence that the father has openly held out the child as his own.\u201d\u00a0 A paternity test administered after death is not sufficient by itself.<\/p>\n

Explained the court, \u201cWe conclude [the statute] requires an affirmative representation of paternity that is unconcealed and made in open view.\u00a0 But although the representation must be a public one, in the sense of being made in open view, the statute does not require an announcement to the world, an official action, or an affectionate fatherly intent.\u00a0 Each case depends upon its own circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court held that Jackie Stennett [the mother] failed to prove \u201cthat Amine openly held out A.S. as his own child.\u201d\u00a0 Hence, the legal result, which does not square with the facts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The law is filled with rules.\u00a0 Rules give guidance to judges. Sometimes the legal result does not square with the facts.\u00a0 In Estate of Britel (2015) 236 Cal.App.4th 127, \u201cthe court admitted into evidence a DNA test showing a 99.9996 percent probability that the decedent (Amine Britel) was A.S.’s (the child\u2019s) father.\u201d\u00a0 Yet the court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-law","category-developments","category-trusts-and-estates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}