## Facts

- Harriet V. Fields married W. C. Fields in California in 1900 and remained married to him until his death in 1946.
- She alleged that all property acquired after marriage came from W. C. Fields’s earnings during marriage and was community property.
- She alleged that after deserting her, W. C. Fields withheld information about his finances and secretly made substantial monetary gifts from community funds without her knowledge or consent.
- The complaint identified ten gifts to named recipients and alleged additional gifts to other recipients, totaling $482,450.
- Harriet Fields disaffirmed the gifts after learning of them only upon W. C. Fields’s death and sought $241,225 as her asserted one-half community interest.
- She alleged many recipients were deceased, out of state, or had dissipated the funds, making recovery from the estate the only practical remedy.
- She presented a creditor’s claim to the estate under California probate procedures; the executrix rejected it.

## Issues

1. Whether a surviving spouse may proceed directly against the decedent’s estate to recover her community interest in inter vivos gifts allegedly made fraudulently and without her consent, rather than being limited to actions against the gift recipients.
2. Whether allegations that the decedent secretly made extensive gifts of community funds with intent to defraud the spouse state an enforceable “claim” against the estate under California Probate Code § 574 sufficient to survive a general demurrer.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of dismissal entered after a demurrer was sustained without leave to amend.
- The court held the complaint stated a cause of action and a claim cognizable against the estate under Probate Code § 574.
- The court held the widow could elect to seek recovery directly from the estate for her share of community property wrongfully transferred by the decedent.
- The court rejected the argument that the widow’s only remedy was to sue the donees to set aside the gifts or recover their value.

## Legal Principles

- A spouse’s managerial authority over community property does not include power to defeat the other spouse’s community interest by fraudulent or secret transfers.
- A decedent’s fraudulent inter vivos disposition of community property can create a liability enforceable against the estate as a probate “claim” under Probate Code § 574.
- On demurrer, well-pleaded allegations of secret, nonconsensual, and intentionally fraudulent gifts of community assets are taken as true and may be sufficient to state a claim for the surviving spouse’s one-half interest.
- A surviving spouse may elect between pursuing relief against the recipients of wrongful transfers and asserting liability against the estate when recovery from recipients is impractical or inequitable.

## Conclusion

The court held that a widow who alleges her husband secretly and fraudulently made substantial inter vivos gifts of community funds without her consent may assert a claim against his estate under Probate Code § 574 for her one-half community interest, and she is not confined to suing the donees.


Fields v. Michael, 91 Cal. App. 2d 443 (Cal. Ct. App. 1949)