Hilton's Estate

Citations

• 263 Pa. 16
• 106 A. 69
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 368

Syllabus

<p>Husband and wife — Marriage—Evidence—Presumption.</p> <p>1. Where a man marries in pursuance of a license, and dies about a year afterwards, his wife by such marriage is entitled to administration on his estate, as against another woman claiming that she was the wife of the decedent, if it appears that the claimant’s proof of a former actual marriage of the decedent with herself depends on her own testimony and that of another interested witness, that the proof of general reputation as hhsband and wife, is contradicted by many witnesses who testified that the general reputation was that they were not married, that claimant was married to another man after the date of her alleged marriage to decedent, and was living with such man at the time of decedent’s death. The fact that the decedent addressed a letter to the claimant as his wife, and that he started divorce proceedings against her, which he discontinued, are immaterial.</p> <p>2. In such a case the marriage of decedent a y.ear before Ms death, to the woman with whom he was living at the time of his death and the marriage of the .claimant to the man with whom she was living at the date of decedent’s death, will both be presumed valid, and such presumption is not overcome by the evidence offered by the claimant.</p>