Estate of Cox

• Decision Date: 06 April 1984
• Parties: ESTATE OF Marilyn Jane COX, Deceased. Appeal of Winifred POTTS, Veronica Hawthorne, Edward Potts, Alice Mainwaring, Edith Vandergrift and Evelyn Myers.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 367

476 A.2d 367

327 Pa.Super. 479

ESTATE OF Marilyn Jane COX, Deceased.

Appeal of Winifred POTTS, Veronica Hawthorne, Edward Potts,

Alice Mainwaring, Edith Vandergrift and Evelyn Myers.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Oct. 18, 1983.

Filed April 6, 1984.

Robert W. Costigan, Philadelphia, for appellants.

Lawrence Barth, Deputy Atty. Gen., Philadelphia, for participating party.

Before McEWEN, BECK and HOFFMAN, JJ.

McEWEN, Judge:

This appeal was taken from the final decree of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in which the learned Judge Harriet M. Mims ordered the Administrator of the Cox Estate to distribute the assets of the estate to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pursuant to Section 2103(6) of the Intestate Succession Act. ¹ Appellants argue that Section 2103(5) of the intestacy statute, which creates two classifications of relatives in the fifth degree of consanguinity with a decedent and permits members of only one of these classifications to inherit, violates the Equal Protection clause of the United States Constitution. We have completed a careful review of the very interesting arguments advanced by appellants but conclude, nonetheless, that the Commonwealth's intestacy statute does not violate the Equal Protection clause. We affirm.

Marilyn Jane Cox, the decedent herein, died intestate on March 4, 1978, without a spouse, issue, siblings or parents to survive her and left an estate valued at slightly more than $160,000.00. A search for relatives competent to inherit this estate, pursuant to the laws of intestacy of this Commonwealth, was undertaken but no eligible heirs were located. The Intestacy Act provides that, in default of those categories of relatives permitted by statute to take by intestacy, the estate passes to the Commonwealth.

Appellants Alice Mainwaring, Evelyn Myers and Edith Vandergrift, are the first cousins of the father of the decedent and appellants Winifred Potts McAllister, Veronica Hawthorne and Edward Potts, are the first cousins of the mother of the decedent, all six of whom are precluded by the terms of the intestacy statute from inheriting the estate of Marilyn Jane Cox, their first cousin once removed. Appellants assert that the intestacy statute is constitutionally infirm in that it deprives them of equal protection of the laws. Specifically, appellants note that the Act permits one class of first cousins once removed, those related to the decedent in the fifth degree of consanguinity ² (grandchildren of the aunts and uncles of the decedent), to take by intestacy but precludes intestate inheritance by another class of first cousins once removed who are also in the fifth degree of consanguinity to the decedent, (the children of great aunts and great uncles of the decedent).

It is well settled that there is a strong presumption of constitutionality appended to statutes lawfully enacted by the legislature. Shapp v. Sloan, 480 Pa. 449, 464, 391 A.2d 595, 602 (1978) (plurality opinion), appeal dismissed 440 U.S. 942, 99 S.Ct. 1415, 59 L.Ed.2d 630 (1929); Commonwealth v. Sutley, 474 Pa. 256, 378 A.2d 780 (1977); The School Districts of Deer Lakes & Allegheny Valley v. Kane, 463 Pa. 554, 345 A.2d 658 (1975); Commonwealth ex rel. Schnader v. Liveright, 308 Pa. 35, 161 A. 697 (1932); Sharpless v. Mayor of Philadelphia, 21 Pa. 147 (1853); In Interest of Jones, 286 Pa.Super. 574, 429 A.2d 671 (1981). Thus, appellant bears the burden of demonstrating that the statute "clearly, palpably and plainly" violates the Constitution. Hayes v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 493 Pa. 150, 154, 425 A.2d 419, 421 (1981) citing Tosto v. Pennsylvania Nursing Home Loan Agency, 460 Pa. 1, 16, 331 A.2d 198, 203 (1975) and Singer v. Sheppard, 464 Pa. 387, 393, 346 A.2d 897, 900 (1975). Accord Snider v. Thornburgh, 496 Pa. 159, 166, 436 A.2d 593, 596 (1981); Tsarnas v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, 488 Pa. 513, 522, 412 A.2d 1094, 1099 (1980); Parker v. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 483 Pa. 106, 394 A.2d 932, 937 (1978); Shapp v. Sloan, supra 480 Pa. at 464, 391 A.2d at 602; Milk Control Commission v. Battista, 413 Pa. 652, 696, 198 A.2d 840, 843 (1964) appeal dismissed 379 U.S. 3, 85 S.Ct. 75, 13 L.Ed.2d 22 (1964); Commonwealth v. Walker, 298 Pa.Super. 387, 391, 444 A.2d 1228, 1230 (1982); Freezer Storage, Inc. v. Armstrong Cork Company, 234 Pa.Super. 441, 447, 341 A.2d 184, 186 (1975), aff'd 476 Pa. 270, 382 A.2d 715 (1978); In Re Street, 67 Pa.Cmwlth. 441, 444, 447 A.2d 1052, 1054 aff'd 499 Pa. 26, 451 A.2d 427 (1982); Robson v. Penn Hills School District, 63 Pa.Cmwlth. 250, 255, 437 A.2d 1273, 1276 (1981); Picariello v. Commonwealth, Department of Revenue, 54 Pa.Cmwlth. 252, 255, 421 A.2d 477, 479 (1980); Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board v. Bethlehem Mines Corp., 23 Pa.Cmwlth. 517, 520, 353 A.2d 79, 80-81 (1976). Doubts are to be resolved in favor of sustaining the legislation. Hayes v. Erie Insurance Exchange, supra 493 Pa. at 154, 425 A.2d at 421; Parker v. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, supra 483 Pa. at 115, 394 A.2d at 937. Nonetheless, appellants suggest that a statute which distinguishes, for purposes of inheritance by intestacy, between two sets of relatives of equal degrees of consanguinity violates the Equal Protection clause of the United States Constitution.

When confronted with an equal protection challenge, the court must initially determine the proper level of judicial review to be applied. Where the challenged statute impinges upon a fundamental right or liberty or concerns a "suspect class", the court is to undertake a "strict scrutiny" of the law. See San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973); McDonald v. Board of Election Commissioners, 394 U.S. 802, 89 S.Ct. 1404, 22 L.Ed.2d 739 (1969). An intermediate standard of review, often referred to as "heightened scrutiny" is employed when the questioned statute affects a "quasi suspect" classification. See Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976); Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 92 S.Ct. 251, 30 L.Ed.2d 225 (1971). Finally, where the statutory classification concerns neither a suspect nor quasi suspect category nor fundamental rights or liberties, a minimal standard of review is to be employed: the court is merely to determine whether the statute is rationally related to a legitimate state purpose. See Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970); Estate of Kunkel v. United States, 689 F.2d 408 (3rd Cir.1982) (plurality opinion). The challenged classification created by the statute presented for our review is based upon neither race nor alienage and does not involve a fundamental right or liberty; "strict scrutiny", therefore, is not the appropriate standard of review to be employed. The classification, moreover, is not based upon legitimacy or gender, which would trigger a heightened standard of review. Cf. James v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, 312 Pa.Super. 512, 459 A.2d 338 (1983) (plurality opinion) ³. It is apparent, therefore, that we must review the constitutionality of the intestacy statute under the rational relationship test, inquiring only into the existence of a proper purpose and means rationally designed to further that goal. This deferential standard mandates only that the statutory classification be "reasonable" and "rest upon a difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation." Snider v. Thornburgh, supra 496 Pa. at 166, 436 A.2d at 596, quoting F.S. Royster Guano Company v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 40 S.Ct. 560, 561, 64 L.Ed. 989, 990-91 (1920). Accord: Laudenberger v. Port Authority of Allegheny County, 496 Pa. 52, 68, 436 A.2d 147, 155 (1981) appeal dismissed sub nom Bucheit v. Laudenberger, 456 U.S. 940, 102 S.Ct. 2002, 72 L.Ed.2d 462 (1982); Hayes v. Erie Insurance Exchange, supra 493 Pa. at 156, 425 A.2d at 422; Kroger Company v. O'Hara Township, 481 Pa. 101, 119, 392 A.2d 266, 265 (1978); Moyer v. Phillips, 462 Pa. 395, 400-01, 341 A.2d 441, 443 (1975). It is recognized that "the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution does not deny a state the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways", providing that the classification meets the aforementioned standards. Gravinese v. Johns-Manville Corporation, --- Pa.Super. ---, ---, 471 A.2d 1233, 1238 (1984).

We first consider whether the Commonwealth had a legitimate purpose in enacting this statute. Appellants do not deny that inheritance of a decedent's estate by family members occurs only because of the benevolence of the sovereign. ⁴ However, prior to the promulgation of the Intestate Act of 1947, there was no limit on the remoteness of a relative who could inherit by intestacy; the Commonwealth was entitled to the decedent's estate only in the absence of known heirs. See Act of June 7, 1917, P.L. 429, § 24. The 1947 Act, however, provided, inter alia, that no ancestor more remote than a grandparent could inherit. Appellants recognize and accept the proposition that the state has a legitimate interest in assuring that the estate of a citizen, who dies without designating the beneficiaries of his property, is distributed in an orderly, accurate and efficient manner. Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, 770, 97 S.Ct. 1459, 1465, 52 L.Ed.2d 31 (1977); Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 406 U.S. 164, 92 S.Ct. 1400, 31 L.Ed.2d 768 (1972); Labine v. Vincent, 401 U.S. 532, 91 S.Ct. 1017, 28 L.Ed.2d 288 (1971). It may also be presumed that the legislature attempted to anticipate the unstated intent of those citizens who lacked the foresight to provide for distribution of their estate.

Appellants argue, however, that the statute, which does not provide for intestate distribution on the basis of degree of kinship but instead relies on the relationship of the decedent and a claimant to a common ancestor, is not rationally related to these...