Court Opinion

ID: 9419208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:47:39.091564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:16.248192
License: Public Domain

Mr. Chief Justice Stone:
I concur upon the single ground that the New York administrator was not bound by the Georgia judgment. He was not a party to the Georgia proceedings, nor was he represented by any of those who were parties. As administrator appointed under the New York statutes, he *356was charged with the duty of administering the estate of the decedent and paying inheritance taxes upon it. His interest so far as he owes duties to the state is therefore adverse to that of the husband and the next of kin, who alone were parties to the Georgia proceeding. To have bound him by representation of those so adverse in interest would have been a denial of due process. Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U. S. 32. A judgment so obtained is not entitled to full faith and credit with respect to those not parties. Pink v. A. A. A. Highway Express, 314 U. S. 201; Baker v. Baker, Eccles & Co., 242 U. S. 394; Blodgett v. Silberman, 277 U. S. 1, 18. Any other conclusion would foreclose New York from litigating its right to collect taxes lawfully due, by the simple expedient of a probate by the next of kin of the will of the decedent as the domiciled resident of another state, without notice to any representative of New York or opportunity to be heard.
It is unnecessary to consider the other questions discussed by the opinion.
Mr. Justice Frankfurter and Mr. Justice Jackson concur in this opinion.