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Moore v. Goode

West Virginia Supreme Court
375 S.E.2d 549 (1988)

Written by Nathan Benedict, JD

Facts

Custer Morris died without descendants, leaving his estate in equal shares to his surviving siblings. Avis Moore (plaintiff), the will’s executrix, listed five of Morris’s siblings as Morris’s beneficiaries. Sarah Goode (defendant) claimed to be Morris’s half-sister, born out of wedlock to Morris’s late father, Isaac Morris. Goode sought to offer testimony that her mother and her late grandmother had told her since she was young that Isaac Morris was her father; that her previous attorney, who was distantly related to the Morris family, had told her that Isaac Morris was her father; and that Harry Morris, Custer Morris’s brother, gave her a photograph of Isaac Morris and said that he was her father. The trial court excluded the statements from Goode’s mother and grandmother and did not consider the statements from Goode’s attorney and Harry Morris. The court ruled that Goode had not proven parentage and excluded her from the distribution of Custer Morris’s estate. Goode appealed.

Rule of Law

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Holding and Reasoning (Miller, J.)

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