Dowell v. Welch

BRIGHTMIRE, Presiding Judge.

Was appellee, Orpha Welch, the paramour or common-law wife of the late Chester A. Dowell when he died April 8,1976? Decedent’s son, Chester Ralph Dowell, says she was no more than an intimate friend. The court who heard the evidence found, however, that she was the senior Dowell’s surviving spouse. We affirm.

I

Orpha’s husband of several years died on June 15,1975. Two months later she started “dating” Chester A. Dowell and not long thereafter invited him to share her house trailer. Chester A. obtained a divorce from his then wife, Norine, on September 15, 1975, 1…