Coca-Cola International Corp. v. New York Trust Co.

8 A.2d 511, 24 Del. Ch. 163, 1939 Del. Ch. LEXIS 16
CourtCourt of Chancery of Delaware
DecidedSeptember 20, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 8 A.2d 511 (Coca-Cola International Corp. v. New York Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Chancery of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coca-Cola International Corp. v. New York Trust Co., 8 A.2d 511, 24 Del. Ch. 163, 1939 Del. Ch. LEXIS 16 (Del. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

The Chancellor:

This case is before the court on a bill of interpleader. Mrs. Hungerford died testate in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 28th, 1935, and, at the time of her death, owned, among other things, 1252 shares of the capital stock of the complainant company, which is a corporation of this State. Her will was dated August 12th, 1933, and, after her death, was duly probated in Fulton County, Georgia, and letters testamentary on her estate were granted in that County and State to Julian Riley and Hughes Spalding, the executors named in her will. The claim having been made that, at the time of Mrs. Hunger-ford’s death, she was domiciled in the City of New York, on a subsequent date her will was, also, probated in that State, and letters of administration c. t. a. were granted to the New York Trust Company, one of the defendants. Both the Georgia executors and the New York administrator claim title to the stock in question and demand that new certificates be issued accordingly; and this bill was filed because of these conflicting claims.

Subject to certain exceptions that need not be considered, it is conceded that a personal representative appointed in the state in which the deceased person was domiciled at the time of her death has title to her personal estate, including shares of corporate stock issued by corporations of other states. Wilkins v. Ellett, 9 Wall. 740, 19 L. Ed. 586; 21 Amer. Jur. § 861, p. 854. The question to be determined, therefore, is whether, at the time of Mrs. Hungerford’s death, she was domiciled in the State of Georgia, or in the City of New York. The executors of Mrs. Hungerford make two contentions:

1. That her will was finally probated, in solemn form, in Fulton County, Georgia, and therefore, after legal notice to all parties interested in her estate, including Mr. Hunger-[188]*188ford, her surviving husband; that, though she owned real estate in Georgia, the place of her domicile at the time of her death was an essential and material issue in that proceeding, and as the court found that she was then domiciled in Fulton County, Georgia, applying the principles of res judicata that question cannot be again litigated in this court, even though the New York administrator was not a party to the Georgia proceedings.
2. That, in any event, the facts proved show that on November 28th, 1935, both Hungerford and his wife were domiciled in Fulton County, Georgia.

The latter contention will be considered first, and in disposing of it certain general principles must be considered.

For most purposes the domicile of the husband fixes the domicile of the wife (In re Daggett’s Will, 255 N. Y. 243, 174 N. E. 641, 75 A. L. R. 1251; Porto Rico Ry., Light & Power Co. v. Cognet, (1 Cir.) 3 F. 2d 21; Beale Conf. Laws, 198; 19 C. J. 414); and the claim that Mrs. Hunger-ford was domiciled in the City of New York at the time of her death is based entirely on the contention that prior to their marriage on June 12th, 1932, Mr. Hungerford had long been a resident of that city and had never changed his legal domicile to Fulton County, Georgia.

When a man once acquires a domicile in a particular place, that place remains his domicile until he acquires another (In re Estate of Dorrance, 115 N. J. Eg. 268, 170 A. 601; Texas v. Florida, 306 U. S. 398, 59 S. Ct. 563, 830, 83 L. Ed. 817, 121 A. L. R. 1179) ; and the burden of establishing that a change of domicile has taken place rests on the party asserting it. In re Estate of Dorrance, 115 N. J. Eg. 268, 170 A. 601; Texas v. Florida, 306 U. S. 398, 59 S. Ct. 563, 803, 83 L. Ed. 817, 121 A. L. R. 1179; State v. Frest, 4 Har. 558. In order to effectuate a change of domicile, it is necessary that a person shall, in fact, remove from the old domicile to the new, with the intention of abandoning the [189]*189old and of remaining permanently or indefinitely in the new. In re Estate of Dorrance, 115 N. J. Eq. 268,170 A. 601; State v. Frest, 4 Har. 558; Dicey Conf. Laws, (2d Ed.) 111.

In State v. Frest, 4 Har. 558, the Court of General Sessions aptly said:

“Domicil, or residence in a legal sense, is determined by the intention of the party. He cannot have two homes at the same time. When he acquires another he loses that home which he has exchanged for the new one. To effect this change there must be both act and intention. ‘Mere intention to acquire a new domicil without the fact of removal avails nothing; neither does the fact of removal without the intention.’ ”

In other words residence, in fact, coupled with the purpose to make that place one’s home are the essential elements of domicile. Texas v. Florida, 306 U. S. 398, 59 S. Ct. 563, 830, 83 L. Ed. 817, 121 A. L. R. 1179; State v. Frest, 4 Har. 558; 1 Beale Conf. Laws, § 15.2, p. 133.

No definite amount of time spent in a place is necessary to show an intent to make it a home; and if the fact of residence and the intention to make the new place of abode concur, even for a moment, a change of domicile takes place. 1 Beale Conf. Laws, §§ 15.2, 13.3, pp. 134, 126. That does not mean, however, that the length of residence is never to be considered in determining questions of domicile.

A man, by merely desiring to do so, cannot retain an old domicile when he gives up his old home and acquires a new one. 1 Beale Conf. Laws, § 19.2, p. 149; In re Estate of Dorrance, 115 N. J. Eq. 268, 170 A. 601.

In 1 Beale’s Conflict of Laws, Section 19.2, page 149, supra, the author points out:

“It is not enough that a man desires to acquire or keep a legal residence or legal domicile; the intention necessary for the acquisition of a domicile is the intention as to the fact, not as to the legal consequences of the fact. ‘A man’s home is where he makes it, not where he would like to have it.’ ”

[190]*190An intention to abandon a former domicile may coexist with an indefinite or, as it is often called, a floating intention to return at some time to the abandoned domicile and again make a home there. Beale’s Conf. Laws, § 18.2 p. 145; State v. Frest, 4 Har. 558; Gilbert v. David, 235 U. S. 561, 35 S. Ct. 164, 59 L. Ed. 360; 19 C. J. 407; see, also, Texas v. Florida, 306 U. S. 398, 59 S. Ct. 563, 830, 83 L. Ed. 817, 121 A. L. R. 1179.

As was said in State v. Frest, supra,

“It is not necessary that a man should determine never to come back, either temporarily or permanently, in order to lose his residence * * * ‘If a person has actually removed to another place, with an intention of remaining there for an indefinite time, as a place of present domicil, it becomes his place of domicil, notwithstanding he may entertain a floating intention to return at some future period.’ ”

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Bluebook (online)
8 A.2d 511, 24 Del. Ch. 163, 1939 Del. Ch. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coca-cola-international-corp-v-new-york-trust-co-delch-1939.