Easley v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

We granted leave to appeal in this case to consider whether an illegitimate child, acknowledged by a father to be his in a formal court pleading, may participate along with legitimate children of that father in the distribution of the father’s estate. The trial court and Court of Appeals answered the question in the negative; we reverse.

I

James Easley, a Ford Motor Company employee, died in 1970. Earlier, in 1961, Jeffrey Jackson was born to Ellen Jackson and, in 1963, James Easley acknowledged Jeffrey to be his son in a paternity suit. Then, in 1967, James Easley married Helen Easley, and the…