Carmella Bell, Appellant v. Lana Eagle McDonald, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed dismissal with prejudice of Bell's petition to inherit from the estate as a pretermitted child. It held that the governing statute required both an estate claim or action and satisfaction of at least one statutory condition within 180 days after the putative father's death, and that Bell had not satisfied those requirements. The court rejected her due-process and equal-protection challenges, concluding that she had no right under another statute to bring the paternity action she claimed was necessary. Justice Hart, dissenting and joined by Justice Baker, would have held that the statute did not apply to Bell as a presumptively legitimate child and that the majority's statutory and constitutional analysis was erroneous.