Opinion ID: 157370
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Scope of the Probate Exception

Text: 11 [A] federal court has no jurisdiction to probate a will or administer an estate. Markham, 326 U.S. at 494, 66 S.Ct. 296. Nonetheless, federal courts do have jurisdiction to entertain suits in favor of ... heirs and other claimants against a decedent's estate to establish their claims so long as the federal court does not interfere with the probate proceedings or assume general jurisdiction of the probate or control of the property in the custody of the state court. Markham, 326 U.S. at 494, 66 S.Ct. 296 (quotation marks omitted). Because our jurisdiction is thus limited by the scope of the probate proceedings, federal jurisdiction over probate matters depends on state law. See McKibben v. Chubb, 840 F.2d 1525, 1529 (10th Cir.1988). 12 The standard for determining whether federal jurisdiction may be exercised is whether under state law the dispute would be cognizable only by the probate court. If so, the parties will be relegated to that court; but where the suit merely seeks to enforce a claim inter partes, enforceable in a state court of general jurisdiction, federal diversity jurisdiction will be assumed. 13 McKibben, 840 F.2d at 1529 (emphasis added).