Patterson's Estate
Patterson's Estate
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The learned auditing judge found that the appellant had not sustained her claim as the widow of the decedent to share in the distribution of his estate and this finding was sustained by the court in banc. . Such a finding of fact from conflicting testimony or when the credibility of witnesses is involved, will not be set aside by an appellate court unless manifest error is shown: Moore’s Estate, 211 Pa. 338; Furbush’s Estate, 220 Pa. 166. Our examination of the testimony has not convinced us of error or even raised a doubt as to the correctness of the conclusion reached.
There was no proof of the marriage of the decedent and the appellant. Her case rested entirely on the presumption of marriage arising from cohabitation and reputation. The voluminous testimony may be summarized by the statement that the decedent was a man of dissipated habits, who frequently went on drinking sprees, that lasted for weeks, and at times for months. During these periods he lived in various parts of the city and avoided meeting the members of his family. He was supported by a weekly allowance from his father’s estate, and all his life he had a home at the house of his mother, where a room was set apart for him. To this home he went shortly before his death and from'it he was buried.
Before the appellant met the. decedent, she had lived in a number of toyms in different parts of the State and had been divorced at the suit of her husband. She came to Philadelphia in 1901, and during the following three years lived under different names at-different houses, the character of which she declined to disclose, on-the ground that her answers would incriminate and disgrace her. She had been once convicted and sentenced in Philadelphia for keeping a bawdy house. She first met the decedent on his visit to a house of ill-fame that she conducted, and they subsequently lived together at times in houses where she conducted the business of let
Cohabitation and reputation are circumstances which, when conjoined, may give rise to a presumption of márriage, but the cohabitation must be such as’ is consistent with and would naturally result from the marriage relation and the reputation must be general. An irregular or inconstant cohabitation and á partial or divided reputation will not sustain a presumption of marriage. Moreover, when, as in this case, the relation betweén the parties was illicit in its inception, a marriage will not be presumed because' óf cohabítátion and reputation without proof óf á change of the relation: Yardley’s Est., 75 Pa. 207; Hunt’s Appeal, 86 Pa. 294; Grimm’s Est., 131 Pa. 199.
The decree is affirmed at the cost of the appellant.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Husband and wife — Common law marriage — Findings of fact by auditing judge. 1. Where the testimony is conflicting or the credibility of witnesses involved, a finding of fact by an auditing judge that a marriage claimed to exist, did not in fact exist will not be set aside by an appellate court unless manifest error is shown. 2. In order for cohabitation and reputation ’ to give rise to a presumption of marriage, the cohabitation must be such as is consistent with and would naturally result from the marriage relation and the reputation must be general. '3. Where the relation between the parties is illicit in its iiiception, a marriage will not be presumed because of cohabitation and'reputation without proof of a change of the relation. 4. The finding of an auditing judge that , a woman has not sustained her claim to b.e the common law wife of a certain decedent, will not be set aside on appeal where it appears from the evidence that decedent was a man of dissipated habits who went ón frequent drunken sprees lasting from weeks to months;' that he was'6supported by a weekly allowance from hie fáther’s estate;* that his home was at his mother’s hodse,--to which he went.shortly, before his death and from which he was buried ;that the-alleged wife, was a woman of ill-repute; that decedent first .met her at a house of ill-fame which she conducted and that they subsequently, lived together at times in houses she conducted; that two1 years before his death he made a will in 'which he mentioned her -as “my intended wife”; that there was nothing in their relation- to .indicate that they regarded their cohabitation as matrimoniad; and .ijhat during this time she had purchased ..and sold real .estate in..her maiden name.