Smith v. Hansen

The appeal is by the executrix of the estate of William Y. Parsons from an order denying her alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding a verdict (allowing the claim of Myrtle Smith against the estate in the sum of $2,059) or a new trial.

These facts are not in dispute. The deceased, a widower with three children, the executrix being one, remarried some time prior to 1907. The last marriage was childless, and in 1907 the Parsons took into their home Myrtle Smith, then four years old, and Frank, her brother, a year older. The children were not related to the Parsons and were never adopted,…