Estate of Goick 275 Mont. 13, 909 P.2d 1165 (1996) Michael and Barbara Goicks were married and had three kids. Michael filed for divorce. They told everybody (including the judge) they considered themselves divorced. While the two were going through the court procedures to finalize the divorce, Michael died. They both agreed that the marriage was over, but they hadn't finished splitting up the assets and signing the paperwork. Barbara moved to dismiss the divorce proceedings, and then filed a petition for adjudication of intestacy. As the surviving spouse, she was entitled to a share, and was appointed the decedent's personal representative. Barbara entered a distribution agreement with the kids' guardian ad litem to split the estate. A guardian ad litem is a court appointed representative to look after the interests of a minor in situations like this. Michael's mother, brother and sister filed an objection, claiming that Barbara was not a surviving spouse. The Trial Court granted summary judgment to Barbara. Michael's relatives appealed. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed. The Montana Supreme Court found that Michael's relatives were not successors to the estate and they had no legal interest in the distribution of the estate. Further, the Court found that a divorce decree cannot be based on an oral agreement, so the Goick's were not divorced until the paperwork was signed, no matter what they were saying. Michael's relatives unsuccessfully argued that Barbara should be barred by equitable estoppel from claiming that she was not divorced when she had previously claimed that she was in the Divorce Court. Since Barbara had never officially gotten a divorce according to Montana law, she wasn't taking an inconsistent position. Michael's relatives unsuccessfully argued that Barbara had a conflict of interest because she stood to get money while she was also the personal representative. There is nothing barring a person from acting as a personal representative even if they stand to inherit.