Matter of Estate of Vandenhook

Sharon Groth appeals from a ruling of the District Court for the Eighteenth Judicial District, Gallatin County, that she did not establish a claim against the estate of Charles Vandenhook as his common law wife. We affirm.

The issue is whether the District Court erred in entering summary judgment denying Groth’s claim against Vandenhook’s estate.

Vandenhook was seventy-six years old at the time of his death in October 1991. Groth, who was in her forties, had been introduced to him through a mutual friend in Utah in late 1990. Because Groth lived in Oklahoma and Vandenhook lived in Montana,…