## Facts

- Paul Randall Mowry, Jr. adopted Toni Mowry MacDonald in 1974.
- On December 7, 1990, Paul executed a handwritten holographic will leaving “all my estate real and personal” to his brother, Joe Allen Mowry, and appointing Joe as executor without bond.
- Paul died on September 25, 2000.
- Joe petitioned for probate, was appointed executor, and later sought final distribution of the estate to himself under the will.
- Toni petitioned under Probate Code § 11700 to determine entitlement to distribution, asserting she was Paul’s only child and an “omitted child” under Probate Code § 21620 because the will made no provision for her.
- The parties did not dispute Toni’s adoption date, the will’s execution date, the will’s contents, or that the will omitted Toni.

## Issues

1. Whether Probate Code § 21620 applies to a child who existed and was known to the testator when the will was executed but was not mentioned or provided for.
2. Whether § 21620 creates a presumption that omission of an existing, known child from a will is unintentional, entitling the child to a share absent explicit disinheritance.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the probate court’s denial of Toni’s petition and the order distributing the estate to Joe under the will.
- The court held § 21620 did not apply because Toni was adopted before the will was executed.
- The court rejected reading § 21620 as a general presumption against disinheritance for any omitted child, emphasizing the statute’s temporal limitation.

## Legal Principles

- Under California Probate Code § 21620, an “omitted child” is limited to a child born or adopted after execution of all of the decedent’s testamentary instruments and not provided for in them, subject to statutory exceptions.
- A child who existed (and was legally a child of the testator) when the will was executed does not qualify for omitted-child relief under § 21620 solely because the will makes no provision for the child.
- Courts apply § 21620 according to its text and will not expand omitted-heir protections beyond the statute’s defined class based on asserted unintentional omission or the parent-child relationship.

## Conclusion

Because Toni was adopted well before Paul executed his will, she fell outside the class protected by Probate Code § 21620; the will’s gift of the entire estate to Joe therefore controlled, and Toni was not entitled to an intestate share as an omitted child.


Estate of Mowry, 107 Cal. App. 4th 338 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003)