McDaniel v. McDaniel

Opinion

HULL, J. Troy L. McDaniel died in a motorcycle accident on September 23, 2005. On August 17, 2006, Troy McDaniel’s mother, Marianne McDaniel, filed a petition for entitlement of distribution of Troy McDaniel’s [460]estate. The petition alleged that Troy McDaniel had died intestate, that he did not have and had not had children, and that Marianne and Troy’s father, Lyle McDaniel, were entitled to have Troy’s estate distributed equally between them.

Appellant, Marie McDaniel, opposed the petition arguing that, despite a dissolution proceeding in 2005, she was still Troy McDaniel’s wife at the time of his death and therefore entitled to inherit his estate. On that basis she asked that Marianne’s petition be denied.

On October 3, 2006, based on the provisions of Probate Code section 78, subdivision (d) (all undesignated section references that follow are to the Probate Code), the trial court decided that, because Marie McDaniel was not Troy McDaniel’s “surviving spouse” within the meaning of the Probate Code at the time of his death, she was not entitled to inherit from his estate. On November 17, 2006, the trial court granted Marianne McDaniel’s petition for distribution and Marie McDaniel appeals. We affirm the judgment.

Facts and Proceedings

Because the parties to the immediate proceeding all bear the surname McDaniel, to avoid confusion and to avoid an unnecessary repetition of the surname McDaniel, we will refer to them hereafter by their first names.

Troy and Marie were married on August 1, 2003. Their marriage was troubled and Troy struggled with problems relating to alcohol and anger management.

On October 18, 2004, Marie filed a petition for dissolution of the marriage. Troy filed his response to the petition on April 28, 2005.

On May 3, 2005, Marie executed an “Interspousal Transfer Deed” granting Troy, as his sole and separate property, real estate located in Rocklin, California. On May 17, 2005, Troy executed an “Interspousal Transfer Grant Deed” granting to Marie as her sole and separate property real estate located in Roseville, California.

On July 25, 2005, the court entered a stipulated judgment dissolving the marriage and ordering that the marital partnership be terminated and the parties be restored to the status of single persons effective October 29, 2005 (that day being one day more than six months after Troy made his appearance in the action). (Farm. Code, § 2339.) Troy and Marie waived spousal support and stipulated to a division of the community property and debts. Thereafter neither party challenged the judgment or its legal effect.