In Re Soper Estate

196 Minn. 60 (1935)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Soper and P were married. P was a widow with three young daughters, the issue of her first marriage. P lived with Soper until August 1921, when he suddenly disappeared, not to be heard of again by P during his remaining lifetime. Soper made his disappearance take on the aspect of suicide. He faked his death. He assumed the name Young. He eventually settled in Minneapolis and became established in a business and a social way. He married a widow, Mary Christopher and they lived as husband and wife until 1925. He then married Whitby, another widow, and they lived as husband and wife until 1932 when he died. Whitby believed that Soper was a widower. He and his partner in the fuel business used insurance to keep the fuel company in one partner’s hands upon the death of the other. The surviving wife of the deceased partner was to be compensated by insurance. The premiums were paid from the business. The stock certificates were put in trust. Shortly after Soper's death the trustee collected the insurance money upon the policy and paid the proceeds over to D as his surviving wife, and at the same time delivered to the surviving partner Soper's 200 shares in the fuel company, together with the policy issued upon his life. No one except Soper knew anything about the first wife. Eventually, P discovered the circumstances and brought suit against Ds to recover the insurance money. Her basic argument was that D could not be Soper’s wife. The trial court ruled against P in that a trust had been created and thus it was nontestamentary and by extrinsic evidence, D was the beneficiary. P appealed.