Willetts' Appeal from Probate

F died within a probate district in this state, leaving property to be administered upon, and a will there made attested by only two witnesses. The probate court granted administration on her estate, finding in the order that she was there domiciled and died intestate. Afterward the executors named in the will had it proved in a surrogate's court in the state of New York, (by the laws of which the will was valid,) upon a citation of all parties interested. An appeal was taken from this decree to the Supreme Court of that state, in which it was found that the testatrix was domiciled in tlie state of New York at the time of ber death and the decree of the surrogate’s court was affirmed. Held— 1. That this judgment was conclusive upon all persons who were parties to the proceeding, as to the question of IPs domicil. 2. That it was the duty of the probate court here, upon application of the executors, to admit the will to probate, for the purpose of ancillary administration.

Appeal from a decree of the probate court of the district of Greenwich, denying the probate of a will; taken to the Superior Court in Fairfield County. The following facts were found by the court:— Alice Fowler died at Greenwich in this state February 7th, 1875. Soon after her death, the court of probate for the district of Greenwich granted administration upon her estate to one William C. Field, and in the decree found that she had her domicil within that district at the time o of her death, that she had died intestate therein, and that at the time of her death she had goods and estate whereof administration appertained to that court. This decree was passed, on the 8th of March, 1875. Alice Fowler at the time of her death left.an instrument purporting to be a last will and testament, executed December 6th, 1874, in Greenwich, and attested -by two witnesses only, in accordance with the laws of the state of New York. At a surrogate’s court, held for the county of Westchester, in the state of New York, in the town of White Plains, on the 21st day of February, 1876, upon motion of the executors named in the will, and upon due notice and citation issued from the court to all parties concerned, the will was duly proved and a decree of the surrogate’s court was passed admitting the will to probate and establishing it as a will of real and personal estate. An appeal was taken from this decree to the Supreme Court of the state of New York, and from thence to the Court of Appeals, and upon the appeals such proceedings were had that the question whether Alice Fowler was domiciled in the state of New York or in the state of Connecticut at the time of her death, was tried by a jury upon a feigned issue framed for that purpose before the Supreme Court, to which- by the laws' of New York such appeals were taken, being a common law court‘of general jurisdiction. The jury found by their verdict that' at the time of’ her death she was domiciled in the state of New York; whereupon judgment was-rendered-by the- Supreme Court affirming the decree of the surrogate’s court; which judgment of the Supreme Court and decree of the surrogate’s court have never been annulled or reversed. The parties to the present appeal were- all parties to- tire proceedings in the state of New York. A large portion'of the property which Alice Fowler left at her death was-in the state of New York. Soon after her death Field; who had been appointed administrator by the probate court in this state, removed all the personal property belonging to her estate, of which the greater part consisted of money in savings banlss, from the state of New York into this state. On the 6th of December, 1878, Field'having resigned his trust as administrator, the court of probate, appointed in his stead one John G. Reynolds, who thereupon became' possessed of- all the property and estate of Alice Fowler. After the will was proved in the state of New York, the executors therein appointed, having- been duly approved and qualified in the surrogate’s court for Westchester County-, proceeded' to administer upon the estate in the state of New York, and also made demand upon Reynolds for1 all the property of the estate in his hands, in order that they might administer thereon, but he refused to deliver it to them. Thereupon a-true and attested copy of the will, with a true and attested copy of the records and proceedings upon the probate-of the same in-the-surrogate’s court, and of the proceedings’of the Supreme Court, was offered in the court of probate -for the district of Greenwich, and an application was made by the executors that the will should be admitted to- probate in that court, and administration granted thereon ancillary to the administration in the state of New York; but the court denied the application, and refused to admit the will to probate; from which' decree of the court the present appeal was taken. Upon these facts the case was reserved for the advice of this court.