In Re Estate of Patton

Does Washington community property law prohibit a husband from devising the whole interest in any specific item of community property, notwithstanding that by the terms of his will his surviving spouse receives one-half or more of the community estate when it is considered in’ the aggregate? That is the primary question presented in this appeal. We answer it in the affirmative.

The respondent Mildred Patton and John George Patton were married January 6, 1937, in Vancouver, B.C., and remained husband and wife until the death of John George Patton on February 26, 1969. No children were bom to…