Estes v. McCaskill

This is an interlocutory appeal from a decree of the chancery court in the Estate of Malcolm N. McCaskill, making a statutory widow’s allowance to Mrs. Lois M. McCaskill. The important question passed upon by the court below and involved on this appeal is whether or not Mrs. McCaskill, the appellee, was the common-law wife of Mr. McCaskill at the date of his death on March 20, 1952.

It is necessary that the basic facts be stated at the outset for a proper understanding of the matters involved. Mr. McCaskill was an oil man, and in the fall *317of 1951 was engaged in drilling for oil and gas on what…