Opinion ID: 3040326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: In our previous opinion, Litzinger, 322 B.R. at 117, we remanded the appeal to the bankruptcy court to determine if the probate exception to federal jurisdiction applies to this proceeding. As we discussed, the Supreme Court has defined the federal courts’ jurisdiction in probate matters as follows. A federal court may: entertain suits in favor of creditors, legatees and heirs and other claimants against a decadent’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 custody of the state court. Markham v. Allen, 326 U.S. 490, 494 (1946). The Second Circuit articulated a two-part test to determine whether a particular lawsuit implicates “probate matters.” Moser v. Pollin, 294 F.3d 335, 340 (2nd Cir. 2002). The Ninth Circuit has also adopted this test. Marshall v. Marshall (In re Marshall) 392 F.3d 1118, 1133 (9th Cir. 2004) cert. granted, 74 U.S.L.W. 3169 (U.S. Sep. 27, 2005) (No. 04-1544). Under the Second Circuit’s test, an affirmative answer to any part requires that the case be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Moser, 294 F.3d at 340. First, is the bankruptcy court being asked to directly probate -5- a will or administer an estate? Second, does entertaining the action cause the bankruptcy court to “interfere with the probate proceedings or assume general jurisdiction of the probate or control of property in the custody of the state court.” Id. (citation omitted). The Second Circuit determined that an impermissible interference may arise in one of three ways: if by adjudicating the complaint, the federal district court (1) “interferes with the probate proceedings;” (2) “assumes general jurisdiction of the probate;” or (3) asserts “control of property in the custody of the state court.” Id (quoting Markham, 326 U.S. at 464; and citing Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3610 (2d ed. 1984)). On remand the bankruptcy court determined that the probate exception to federal court jurisdiction did not prohibit it from exercising subject matter jurisdiction over this proceeding and neither party challenges the bankruptcy court’s determination that it had jurisdiction to determine the disputed claim. We agree that the determination of the claim objection does not fall into the categories of “interference” as defined by the Second Circuit’s test and therefore the probate exception does not apply.