In re Estate of Goodburn

The opinion of the court was delivered by This was a proceeding commenced in the probate court to establish a demand against the decedent's estate, which was disallowed by the court after a hearing on the merits. The district court dismissed the appeal from the probate court for reasons hereafter detailed, and the petitioner, Ernest William Goodburn, has appealed. The facts are not in dispute. George Goodburn and his first wife Nellie had lived together at Medicine Lodge for over 38 years prior to her death in 1958. They were frugal people and invested wisely, and had accumulated a substantial amount of property, mostly in corporate stocks. George and Nellie had a mutual will which left all their property absolutely to the survivor, except that in case of common casualty or in the case of the survivor dying without having made other disposition of his or her property, the remainder of their estates, after certain minor bequests, would go one-half to the petitioner or his heirs, and [210 Kan. 741]