In Re: Estate of Cropper, W. Appeal of: Slaby, M. ( 2017 )


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  • J-A24012-17
    NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
    IN RE: ESTATE OF WILLIAM H.                       IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
    CROPPER, DECEASED                                           OF
    PENNSYLVANIA
    APPEAL OF MARGARET SLABY
    No. 1240 WDA 2016
    Appeal from the Order Entered July 20, 2016
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
    Orphans’ Court at No(s): 02-15-00392
    BEFORE: MOULTON, J., SOLANO, J., and MUSMANNO, J.
    MEMORANDUM BY MOULTON, J.:                        FILED DECEMBER 27, 2017
    Margaret Slaby appeals from the July 20, 2016 order of the Allegheny
    County Court of Common Pleas denying her petition for a declaration that she
    was the common law wife of the late William H. Cropper (“Decedent”). We
    affirm.
    Slaby was previously married to Kenneth Slaby; they divorced on
    January 15, 1986. Decedent was initially married to Margaret Cropper; they
    divorced on June 25, 1957. Decedent later married Shirley Cropper, who died
    on April 20, 1999.       Decedent died intestate on November 1, 2014 and is
    survived by six children:        Cynthia LaGuardia, Kelly Cropper Hall, Sandra
    DeFrancesco, Diane Hatfield, Wayne Cropper, and Wesley Cropper.1
    ____________________________________________
    The only appellees who filed a brief in this matter are LaGuardia, Hall,
    1
    and DeFrancesco. At the May 2, 2016 hearing, the parties presented evidence
    J-A24012-17
    On November 23, 2015, Slaby petitioned the trial court for a declaration
    that at the time of Decedent’s death, Slaby was his common law wife.2 Slaby
    claimed that on December 25, 2000, she and Decedent exchanged vows and
    held themselves out as a married couple for the remainder of Decedent’s life.
    The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on May 2, 2016, at which 14
    witnesses testified. On July 20, 2016, the trial court denied Slaby’s petition,
    concluding that she had failed to establish the existence of a common law
    marriage by clear and convincing evidence.       Slaby timely appealed to this
    Court.
    On appeal, Slaby presents one issue for our review:      “Under all the
    circumstances of this case, did Margaret Slaby establish that she was the
    common law surviving spouse of [Decedent]?” Slaby’s Br. at 2.
    This Court recently set forth the applicable standard of review as
    follows:
    Our standard of review in a declaratory judgment action
    is “limited to determining whether the trial court clearly
    abused its discretion or committed an error of law. If the
    trial court’s determination is supported by the record, we
    may not substitute our own judgment for that of the trial
    ____________________________________________
    that Decedent may have fathered another child, the late Linda Bateman, who
    is survived by three children: Adam Bateman, Mark Bateman, and Daniel
    Bateman. The Batemans are participants in the appeal but did not file a brief.
    Hatfield is not a participant in this appeal.
    “[T]he Pennsylvania legislature abolished the doctrine of common law
    2
    marriage effective January 1, 2005. See 23 Pa.C.S. § 1103. However, section
    1103 of the Marriage Law permits the legal recognition of common law
    marriages contracted before January 1, 2005.” In re Estate of Carter, 
    159 A.3d 970
    , 974 (Pa.Super. 2017). Thus, Slaby must demonstrate that she and
    Decedent entered into a common law marriage before January 1, 2005.
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    court. The application of the law, however, is always subject
    to our review.”
    In re Estate of Carter, 
    159 A.3d 970
    , 974 (Pa.Super. 2017) (quoting
    Vignola v. Vignola, 
    39 A.3d 390
    , 393 (Pa.Super. 2012)).
    Slaby contends that “she entered into a common law marriage with the
    [D]ecedent no later than December 25, 2000.” Slaby’s Br. at 6. She claims
    that on that date, and in the presence of her sister, she and Decedent
    exchanged vows with the intent to create a marriage contract. We disagree
    with Slaby’s assertion that the evidence presented compels the conclusion she
    seeks.
    “[A] common law marriage is a marriage by the express agreement of
    the parties without ceremony, and almost invariably without a witness, by
    words—not in futuro or in postea, but—in praesenti, uttered with a view and
    for the purpose of establishing the relationship of husband and wife.” Carter,
    159 A.3d at 974 (quoting In re Estate of Manfredi, 
    159 A.2d 697
    , 700 (Pa.
    1960)) (italics in original).   The party seeking to establish a common law
    marriage bears the burden of proving the exchange of verba in praesenti by
    clear and convincing evidence. 
    Id.
     In Carter, we explained:
    The requirement of “words in the present tense” is
    designed to ensure the existence of a present intent to
    marry, like the present intent established in a formal
    wedding ceremony, rather than a plan to marry in the future
    or a claim to have wed in the past. With regard to this
    requirement, the Supreme Court explained that a “common
    law marriage contract does not require any specific form of
    words, and all that is essential is proof of an agreement
    to enter into the legal relationship of marriage at the
    present time.” [Staudenmayer v. Staudenmayer, 
    714 A.2d 1016
    , 1020 (Pa. 1998)] (emphasis added). Stated
    differently, “common law marriage will still be recognized
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    without use of verba de praesenti, where the intention of
    the parties[,] as expressed by their words, is that they were
    married.” Cann v. Cann, 
    429 Pa.Super. 234
    , 
    632 A.2d 322
    ,
    325 (1993).
    Id. at 979.   Our Supreme Court has described the petitioner’s burden of
    proving a common law marriage as “heavy.” Staudenmayer, 714 A.2d at
    1021; see id. at 1020 (“When an attempt is made to establish a marriage
    without the usual formalities, the claim must be reviewed with ‘great
    scrutiny.’”) (quoting Estate of Gavula, 
    417 A.2d 168
    , 171 (Pa. 1980)).
    At the hearing, Slaby testified that she and Decedent met through a
    mutual friend and began dating in 1988. N.T., 5/2/16, at 91. Slaby testified
    that Decedent moved into her residence in 1989, while he was still married to
    Shirley Cropper; Shirley died ten years later. Id. at 88, 93.
    Slaby testified that on December 25, 2000, she and Decedent
    exchanged vows in the presence of her sister, Christine Morena.          Slaby
    described the event as follows:
    We were sitting down at the kitchen table after
    everybody left.    We were talking about New Year’s
    resolutions. My sister said she was going to quit smoking
    which I had been on her about that constantly. [Decedent]
    said ours was to get married. [Morena] said why don’t you
    just do it now. So we did.
    ...
    We exchanged vows. [Decedent] said I take you as my
    wife. I said I take you as my husband.
    Id. at 100-01. Decedent and Slaby did not exchange rings on that date, nor
    did they consider December 25, 2000 to be their anniversary. Id. at 151.
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    Slaby testified that she and Decedent did not tell anyone that they were
    married, including their own children. Id. at 152, 165.
    Slaby further testified that after the December 25, 2000 exchange of
    vows, she and Decedent “kept [their] own separate identities” and that she
    and Decedent represented that they were single “[i]n everything that [they]
    did.” Id. at 139. Slaby admitted that she could not find any greeting cards
    indicating that she was Decedent’s wife after searching for 63 hours. Id. at
    153-54. Although they had cohabitated since 1989, she and Decedent owned
    separate residences and listed themselves on their respective deeds as
    “unmarried.” Id. at 162-63, 203-05.3 Slaby and Decedent also filed separate
    tax returns and never held any joint assets.      Id. at 142-43. According to
    Slaby, she and Decedent “continued [life] as it had been” after the exchange
    of vows. Id. at 101.
    Morena, Slaby’s sister, testified regarding the December 25, 2000
    incident as follows:
    After everything was winding down, we were sitting there
    as usual in the kitchen talking, myself, [Slaby], [Decedent],
    and we were talking about New Year’s resolutions. I said,
    well mine is to quit smoking which I still haven’t done that.
    [Decedent] said, well, mine is to get your sister to marry
    me. I said, well, why don’t you just do it, do it now, and he
    said, [Slaby], I take you as my wife. She kind of chuckled
    little bit and said, [Decedent], I take you as my husband.
    ____________________________________________
    Slaby and Decedent also purchased two properties together for which
    3
    they held title as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Slaby and Decedent
    were each identified as “single” on both deeds. N.T., 5/2/16, at 133-36.
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    Id. at 79. Morena testified that she attributed no significance to Slaby’s and
    Decedent’s exchange of words at that time. Id. at 86.
    Wayne Cropper, Decedent’s son, testified that he had a very close
    relationship with his father and that Decedent never told him of an exchange
    of vows on December 25, 2000 or that he and Slaby were married.            Id. at
    207.   Cropper also testified that in 2002 or 2003, he and his father had
    discussed common law marriage. Cropper summarized the conversation as
    follows:
    [I said to my father,] [i]f you ever broke up [with Slaby],
    would you be afraid of her filing for common law? He said
    no. This is the reason he gave me . . . he said I maintain
    my residence. I never changed where I voted. All my
    paperwork and everything comes to my residence. And he
    was pretty adamant that . . . because he did that . . . there
    was no case for common law [marriage].
    Id. at 197-98.
    Even accepting as true the uncontradicted testimony that on December
    25, 2000, Decedent said to Slaby, “I take you as my wife,” and Slaby said, “I
    take you as my husband,” such evidence was insufficient to prove that Slaby
    and Decedent stated those words with the specific intent to create a marriage
    contract. See Carter, 159 A.3d at 974. Indeed, other evidence presented at
    the hearing supported the conclusion that Slaby and Decedent did not so
    intend. Slaby testified that she did not know when she first believed she was
    Decedent’s common law spouse. N.T., 5/2/16, at 131-32. After the exchange
    of vows, neither Slaby nor Decedent told any of their children that they were
    married, and the couple “continued [life] as it had been.” N.T., 5/2/16, at
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    101. Moreover, Wayne Cropper testified that, a few years after the exchange
    of vows, his father told him that he did not believe he was Slaby’s common
    law spouse. Based on the evidence presented at the hearing, which the trial
    court credited, we conclude that Slaby failed to meet her “heavy” burden of
    proving that she and Decedent intended the December 25, 2000 exchange of
    vows to create the legal relationship of husband and wife.
    Next, Slaby asserts that “[w]hile neither cohabitation nor holding out
    [as a married couple] creates a common law marriage, both of those factors
    are evidence tending to show a marriage.” Slaby’s Br. at 21. As our Court
    has recognized, however, “courts may rely on the presumption [of marriage
    based on cohabitation and reputation] only in the absence of direct testimony
    regarding the exchange of verba in praesenti.” Carter, 159 A.3d at 980 n.9
    (quoting Staudenmayer, 714 A.2d at 1021); see also PNC Bank Corp. v.
    Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Stamos), 
    831 A.2d 1269
    , 1284-85
    (Pa.Cmwlth. 2003) (en banc) (noting that “evidence of cohabitation and
    reputation was irrelevant” to determining whether petitioner met his burden
    of proving common law marriage by exchange of verba in praesenti). Because
    Slaby presented direct testimony regarding the exchange of verba in
    praesenti, we need not consider evidence of subsequent cohabitation and
    reputation to determine whether Slaby met her burden of proving that she
    and Decedent exchanged words of present intent to marry on December 25,
    2000.
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    Even if we were to consider the evidence of Slaby’s and Decedent’s
    subsequent cohabitation and reputation, we would still conclude that Slaby
    failed to satisfy her burden of proof. As the trial court cogently explained:
    The record demonstrates that some of the witnesses
    (including a daughter of the Decedent) were persuaded that
    the relationship was that of husband and wife. But the
    record also reflects contrary testimony from witnesses,
    including other children of the Decedent’s.               The
    documentary evidence admitted in this case also does not
    demonstrate one clear path, given the differences on car
    titles, deeds to properties[,] and the like. Because most, if
    not all, of the testimony and documentary evidence
    displayed credible traits, the Court, being constrained by the
    clear and convincing evidence standard, determined that
    [Slaby] was unable to sustain this burden.
    Trial Ct. Op., 3/13/17, at 2-3 (unpaginated); see In Interest of J.M., 
    166 A.3d 408
    , 427 (Pa.Super. 2017) (“Clear and convincing evidence requires that
    a finding be based on testimony by credible witnesses who clearly relate facts
    that are ‘so clear, direct, weighty, and convincing as to enable the trier of fact
    to come to a clear conviction, without hesitancy, of the truth of the precise
    facts in issue.’”) (quoting In re Novosielski, 
    992 A.2d 89
    , 107 (Pa. 2010)).
    Based on our review of the record, we conclude that the trial court did
    not abuse its discretion in determining that Slaby failed to establish, by clear
    and convincing evidence, that she and Decedent entered into a common law
    marriage on December 25, 2000.
    Order affirmed.
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    Judgment Entered.
    Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
    Prothonotary
    Date: 12/27/2017
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Document Info

Docket Number: 1240 WDA 2016

Filed Date: 12/27/2017

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 4/17/2021