Stein v. Stein, WD
| Decision Date | 26 October 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 641 S.W.2d 856 |
| Parties | Nana STEIN, Appellant, v. John STEIN, Administrator for Estate of John A. Stein, Respondent. 32579. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
James B. Deutsch, Dowell, McNearney & Calton, Kansas City, for appellant.
Dennis S. Schwartz, Kansas City, for respondent.
Before NUGENT, P.J., and TURNAGE and LOWENSTEIN, JJ.
Nana Stein sought to establish the fact that she was the surviving spouse of John A. Stein and filed applications for allowances. After an evidentiary hearing, the court found that Nana Stein and John A. Stein were not married and denied her applications. On this appeal Nana contends the evidence was sufficient to show that she and John became husband and wife by virtue of a common law marriage consummated while they were on a bus tour of the East and while they were in Pennsylvania. Affirmed.
The facts are not in dispute. About September, 1978, Nana started living with John in his apartment near the Blue Ridge Mall in Kansas City. They had met while Nana was a waitress in a restaurant in the Mall. In April, 1979, Nana and John took a bus tour, with other senior citizens, of the East. This tour lasted about three weeks and went through several states, including Pennsylvania. Nana's contention was that she and John exchanged rings and marriage vows in Philadelphia on one night. Nana was prevented from testifying to this directly because of objections based on the Deadman's Statute, but evidence from other witnesses would lead to the inference that this was Nana's contention. In any event, it is undisputed that Nana and John held themselves out as husband and wife, both before and after the tour, and lived together in John's apartment for about fifteen months.
It is further undisputed that John and Nana were residents of Missouri and were domiciled in this state during the entire time that they lived together. Their only absences were temporary while on the bus tour and for other trips for short visits with relatives of both.
The resolution of this case is greatly simplified by the decision of the Southern District in Hesington v. Hesington, 640 S.W.2d 824 (1982). Hesington held, in a well reasoned opinion by Maus, C.J., that Missouri will not recognize a marriage in a common law form between Missouri residents even though the marriage is alleged to have occurred in a state which recognizes common law marriage. The basis of that decision is § 451.040.5, RSMo 1978,...
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Porter v. Porter
...may not enter into a valid common-law marriage by temporarily visiting a state which allows common-law marriages"); Stein v. Stein, 641 S.W.2d 856, 857-58 (Mo. Ct. App. 1982) (holding that a one-night trip to Pennsylvania and an exchange of marriage vows were insufficient to prove a common ......
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...law marriage between Missouri residents even if the marriage occurs in a state which recognizes common law marriage. Stein v. Stein, 641 S.W.2d 856, 857 (Mo.App.1982). Appellants have correctly stated the law governing common law marriage in this state. We hold, however, that the evidence s......