Estate of Scharenbroch, Docket No. 126705

• Decision Date: 13 September 1991
• Docket Number: Docket No. 126705
• Citation: 191 Mich.App. 215,477 N.W.2d 436
• Parties: In the ESTATE of Jeffrey S. SCHARENBROCH, Deceased. Robbie STEPHENS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Donald B. and Peggy J. SCHARENBROCH, Personal Representatives of the Estate of Jeffrey S. Scharenbroch, Deceased, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 436

477 N.W.2d 436

191 Mich.App. 215

In the ESTATE of Jeffrey S. SCHARENBROCH, Deceased.

Robbie STEPHENS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Donald B. and Peggy J. SCHARENBROCH, Personal

Representatives of the Estate of Jeffrey S.

Scharenbroch, Deceased, Respondents-Appellees.

Docket No. 126705.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Dec. 6, 1990, at Grand Rapids.

Decided July 17, 1991.

Approved for Publication

Sept. 13, 1991, at 9:05 a.m.

Released for Publication Dec. 16, 1991.

Meana, Spruit & Bedevia, P.C. by Fernando L. Bedevia, Grand Rapids, for petitioner-appellant.

Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey by Robert D. Brower, Grand Rapids, for respondents-appellees.

Before SHEPHERD, P.J., and SAWYER and REILLY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

In this action, the petitioner sought to have her daughter Stephanie declared decedent Jeffrey S. Scharenbroch's heir-at-law under M.C.L. Sec. 700.111(4)(c); M.S.A. Sec. 27.5111(4)(c). Decedent was the child's putative father, though he and the petitioner were not married. Decedent died intestate, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident, thirty-two days after Stephanie's birth. The probate court granted summary disposition to the respondents after finding reasonable minds could not disagree that the thirty-two-day-old child was incapable of having borne a "mutually acknowledged" relationship with the decedent, as required under the statute. The petitioner appeals as of right the February 5, 1990, order to this effect.

We are, however, constrained to affirm, because we agree with the probate court that no evidence was presented that a thirty-two-day-old infant is capable of acknowledging a relationship with her father or that this child manifested such an acknowledgment in any way. ¹ Section 111(4)(c) provides that if a child is born out of wedlock, a man is considered to be the natural father of that child for purposes of intestate succession if the "man and the child have borne a mutually acknowledged relationship of parent and child which began before the child became age 18 and continued until terminated by the death of either." The alternative statutory methods of establishing that a child is an heir-at-law of a deceased man are not at issue in this case. Subsection (4)(a) of Sec. 111 allows the father and mother to file a written acknowledgment with the probate court. Subsection 4(b) of Sec. 111 allows the mother and father to jointly request a correction of the certificate of birth. Neither of these alternatives was pursued in this case.

While the statute may be considered remedial in the sense that it was designed to remedy past injustices whereby even acknowledged illegitimate children were prohibited from taking intestate, and may therefore be more liberally construed, In re Spencer Estate, 147 Mich.App. 626, 383 N.W.2d 266 (1985), subsection 4(c), in an effort to avoid specious claims, does require a "mutually" acknowledged relationship between parent and child. This Court has held that both the ordinary and legal usages of the word "mutual" require action by both sides. In re Vellenga Estate, 120 Mich.App. 699, 702, 327 N.W.2d 340 (1982). In enacting subsection 4(c), it is apparent that the...