Estate of Franco

Private Wealth Services attorney Jaime Herren authored a summary of an appellate court's decision in the Estate of Franco case for the California Lawyers Association's Trusts and Estates Section. This case deals with the issue of whether the statutory presumption of natural parentage applies to spouses in an intestate probate. The appellate court concluded that the laws of succession are statutory and the right to inherit is not an inherent or natural right. Ms. Herren explained that California law protects the integrity of family, and a child may be precluded from proving biological parentage where legal parentage has been conclusively established. The presumption of natural parentage of married spouses applies only where spouses were cohabitating at the times of conception and birth of the child.

READ: Estate of Franco