In Re Estate of McLaughlin

In this appeal the brother, sister and niece of a decedent challenge a decree of distribution awarding the decedent’s estate to his former stepson. The decedent, Walter McLaughlin, and his ex-wife, Ethel McLaughlin, were married in 1963. At the time of this marriage, the ex-wife had a son by a previous marriage, Warren Pike, who was in the United States Army serving overseas. The stepson was never adopted by the decedent. Shortly after his marriage to Ethel McLaughlin, the decedent executed a will providing in relevant part as follows:

I give, devise and bequeath all the property I shall own…