Hews v. Longshore

188 Iowa 743
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 16, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 188 Iowa 743 (Hews v. Longshore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hews v. Longshore, 188 Iowa 743 (iowa 1920).

Opinion

Hatnor, J.

l. Wills : foreign probate of domestic win. This is an appeal from the action of the court in admitting a will to probate under the provisions of Section 3294- of the Code of 1897. Tt appears that the testator was, at the time of his death, a resident of this state, owned large property ' ’ interests in this state, and was domiciled at Grinnell, Poweshiek County, in this state; that he was temporarily in the state of Nebraska, and, while there, was taken sick and died. Eleven days be[744]*744fore bis death, he executed the will now sought to l>e probated. At the time of his death, he was the owner of 160 acres of land in Eichardson County, Nebraska. This will was presented to the probate court of Eichardson County, Nebraska, and there duly probated. A certified copy of the record of probate, duly authenticated, as required by our statute, was presented to the district court of Poweshiek County, with an application to have the same admitted to probate upon the authenticated record aforesaid. The court admitted the will to probate as a foreign will, over the objection of parties interested, and appeal is taken to this court.

The only question for our determination is whether or not, under the provisions of Section 3294, the will should have been admitted to probate as the last will and testament of decedent.

There is no question made as to the probate in Nebraska. He had real estate in Nebraska, and the Nebraska court had jurisdiction to probate the will. There is po question that the original record of probate in said court was duly authenticated and attested, as required by the laws of this state. The determination of this case involves the proper construction to be given to Section 3294, its scope and purpose, and what is intended to be covered by it. This section deals only with foreign wills, probated in the court of the domicile of the testator: that is, where a will has been duly probated at the domicile of the testator, in a foreign state, it may be admitted to probate in this state as a foreign will, upon compliance with the terms of the statute.

In dealing with the subject of wills, and in considering the legal effect of the probate thereof, a distinction between domestic wills and foreign wills must always be kept in mind. When Section 3294 says, “a will probated in any other state or country shall be admitted to probate in this [745]*745state, without the notice required in the case of domestic wills,” it meáns a will probated at the domicile of the testator in a foreign state, and when it says, “on the production of a copy thereof and of the original record of probate, authenticated,” etc., it means the production of a copy of the will, properly probated, at the domicile of the testator in a foreign state. Wills so probated may be admitted in this state-without notice, under the provisions of Section 3294. It follows that only such wills as are shown to have been probated at the domicile of the testator in a foreign state are admitted to probate in this state, under the provisions of this section. Original probate may be had in any state or territory in which the testator has property at the time of his death, although the testator was not domiciled in that state at the time of his death; but the mere production of the statutory evidence of the probate of a will in a state other than that of the domicile of the testator, though he have property in that state, does not entitle it to probate in this state, under the provisions of this section. The probate of a will in a state other than the domicile of the testator is strictly a proceeding in rem, and, while allowable, affects only the property and rights in that property within the jurisdiction of that state, and has no extraterritorial force. It is much like all proceedings in rem, in which jurisdiction is acquired, not in personam, but of the property alone. A court in all proceedings in rem of necesity determines the right of the party to the relief prayed for, but enters judgment only against the property within its jurisdiction. A judgment thus rendered will not serve as a basis for any proceeding in a foreign jurisdiction, and no rights in personam or in rem can be urged under such a judgment in a foreign state. It is not binding upon anything except the property and rights in the property against which it operates. 1

It follows that the probate of a will in any state or [746]*746territory, other than the domicile of the testator, does not serve as a basis for the probate of the will in the state of the domicile, under the provisions of Section 3294. It cannot be assumed that it was the intention of the legislature that a domestic will, the last will and testament of one domiciled in this state, can be probated in a foreign jurisdiction, and by such probate secure its admission here as a foreign will, without notice. Wills probated a.t the domicile of the testator, and presented to the probate courts of this state for probate, are treated as foreign wills, and are admitted to probate in this state under the statutes herein-before referred to. But a domestic will, admitted to probate in a state other than that of the domicile, is not a foreign will. It is simply a domestic will, probated in a foreign state, and is not admissible to probate in' this state, under the provisions of the statute. If this were tolerable, it would follow logically that, if one domiciled in this state should die, leaving a will, this will, without being admitted to probate in this state, could be taken to a foreign state, no matter how far distant from the state of the domicile, and.there probated, and, by such probate, bind the courts of the domiciliary state, without notice to parties interested. The logic of such holding would be that, though a person died domiciled in this state, with large property interests here, and but small property interests in other states far distant from the state of his domicile, his will might first be probated in any of the foreign states in which he had property, and by such probate, under Section 3294, be admitted to probate in this state, without notice to the persons adversely interested. As bearing upon the question here under consideration, see Sturdivant v. Neill, 27 Miss. 157, 165; Bate v. Incisa, 59 Miss. 513. The statute of Mississippi provides:

“Authenticated copies of wills proved according to the laws of any of the United States, or the territories [747]*747thereof, or any country out of the limits of the United States, and touching or concerning estates within this state [Mississippi], may be offered for and admitted to probate in said courts.”

In the Bate case, the Supreme Court of Mississippi said:

“In the case we are now considering, the will is not such as the statute was passed for. The chancery court * * * did not have jurisdiction over an authenticated copy of it, but could only admit to probate the original will. [It appears that the will was probated in the courts of Tennessee.] * * * But, if the record of the probate of the will in Tennessee had shown that it was duly proved by the three attesting witnesses [as required by the laws of Mississippi], an authenticated copy could not have been admitted to probate here, because the statute does not embrace it.”

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Bluebook (online)
188 Iowa 743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hews-v-longshore-iowa-1920.