In Re Dewey's Estate

Clarence O. Dewey died intestate in 1939, leaving as heirs his widow, a brother, a half brother, two sisters, and the two children of a deceased sister. The widow was appointed administratrix, and, in the course of the probate proceedings, a controversy developed as to whether a certain tract of land, the only real property of the estate in King county, formerly the site of a road house known as The Plantation, was separate or community property. After a hearing on the merits, the trial court, in its decree of distribution, found and adjudged the tract to be community property. The decedent’s…