In Re Smith's Estate

The respondent, surviving spouse of Dan Smith, deceased, petitioned the superior court for clarifica tion of two paragraphs of his will, contending that property referred to therein as separate property of the testator was in fact community property. The appellants, daughters of Dan Smith by a prior marriage, to whom he bequeathed 75 per cent of his separate property, opposed this contention of the widow.

The trial court found that the earnings of the truck parts business which Smith conducted as a sole proprietorship throughout and before his marriage, were community property, those earnings…