In Re Estate of Lyons

This appeal presents a single question. Did RCW 11.52 repeal by implication RCW 6.12.080? Otherwise expressed, can a surviving spouse claim a homestead right in property which was the separate property of the deceased spouse?

Samuel C. Lyons, the deceased herein, had been married before his marriage to Olga E. Lyons, which occurred on January 6, 1963. At the time of the last marriage both parties were of advanced age, the widow having been 76 years of age at the time of marriage and 83 years old at the time of decedent’s death on July 1,1970.

On June 11, 1965, decedent filed a declaration of…