Does plaintiff have authority to sign an arbitration agreement on behalf of her deceased husband?

We find the reasoning of Pagarigan and Flores to be persuasive. Plaintiff was not authorized by her status as decedent's wife to sign an arbitration agreement on his behalf. A spouse is not deemed to be the agent of the other spouse for purposes of entering into transactions simply by virtue of the marital relationship. (Avedissian v. Manukian (1983) 141 Cal.App.3d 379, 384-385.) Plaintiff was permitted by statute to consent to medical treatment on decedent's behalf, but defendants have cited no statute that authorized plaintiff, as decedent's spouse, to sign an arbitration agreement on decedent's behalf. Plaintiff was not designated as decedent's agent under a durable power of attorney for health care, and did not derive authority to sign an arbitration agreement from such a relationship. No evidence was presented to show that plaintiff was otherwise the actual or ostensible agent of her husband. Defendants did not raise that issue in their second petition to compel arbitration, and no evidence in support of such an agency was presented.