Smalley v. Parks

JAMES K. PREWITT, Presiding Judge.

Shirley Joanne Smalley petitioned for a declaratory judgment from the probate division of the Circuit Court of Hickory County declaring her the equitably adopted child of Simon D. Parks, who died intestate, and as such, the sole heir of the estate of the decedent. Following a bench trial held on June 6, 2002, the trial court found against Petitioner. This appeal followed.

Shirley (“Appellant”) was born in Johnson County, Missouri, on October 30, 1934, to Everett V. Williams and Thelma F. Walrath Williams. The couple separated *140when she was very young, and she…