Trimble v. Gordon

430 U.S. 762 ( 1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P is the illegitimate daughter of appellant Jessie Trimble and Sherman Gordon (D). Trimble and Gordon lived in Chicago with P from 1970 until D died in 1974, the victim of a homicide. On January 2, 1973, the Circuit Court had entered a paternity order finding D to be the father of P and ordering him to pay $15 per week for her support. D thereafter supported P in accordance with the paternity order and openly acknowledged her as his child. D died intestate at the age of 28, leaving an estate consisting only of a 1974 Plymouth automobile worth approximately $2,500. Trimble, as the mother and next friend of P, filed a petition for letters of administration. The court entered an order determining heirship, identifying as the only heirs of D his father, Joseph Gordon, his mother, Ethel King, and his brother, two sisters, and a half-brother. The Court excluded P on the authority of the negative implications of § 12 of the Illinois Probate Act, which provides in relevant part: 'An illegitimate child is heir of his mother and of any maternal ancestor, and of any person from whom his mother might have inherited, if living; and the lawful issue of an illegitimate person shall represent such person and take, by descent, any estate which the parent would have taken, if living. A child who was illegitimate whose parents inter-marry and who is acknowledged by the father as the father's child is legitimate.' After a notice of appeal was filed, the Illinois Supreme Court entered an order allowing a direct appeal. It sustained §12 against all constitutional challenges. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.