Court Opinion

ID: 9757648
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:51:24.519695+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:42.015278
License: Public Domain

Duncan, J.,
dissenting: If the plaintiff is correct in her contentions, the marriage of the decedent and Nellie Hamblin in New Hampshire while they were domiciled in Vermont and intended to, and did, remain resident there, was invalid in that state. (G. L., Vt., ss. 3602, 3514; Wheelock v. Wheelock, 103 Vt. 417), and it would seem to follow that the defendants’ status at birth, by the law of Vermont where they were born, was that of illegitimacy. The decedent was domiciled in New Hampshire at death, and the defendants’ right to inherit is doubtless determinable according to New Hampshire law. It may well be that comity does not require this jurisdiction to enforce the law of Vermont with respect to the status of the defendants, since our statutes contain no provisions comparable to those of the uniform marriage evasion act. But cf. Restatement, Conflict of Laws, s. 121; s. 132, comment e; s. 138; Harding v. Townsend, 280 Mass. 256. See anno., 73 A. L. R. 941; 162 A. L. R. 626.
In my judgment the plaintiff is entitled to a decision of these questions, which the majority opinion holds need not be considered. The issue in the former appeal was whether Nellie Hamblin was by virtue of a marriage in New Hampshire, the “widow” of the decedent within the meaning of R. L., c. 352, s. 2, so as to be entitled to administer his estate. What was her relation to him was the question presented. The issue in this appeal is whether the defendants are entitled to share in the decedent’s estate under our law of descent and distribution (R. L., c. 360), if under the law of the place of their birth *359they were not legitimate children of the decedent. See Restatement, Conflict of Laws, ss. 138, 304. What was their relation to him is the question now presented. I do not understand that any “question of fact” previously “litigated and determined” is now disputed, or that the issue of the defendants’ right to inherit was in any way involved in the prior appeal. Although the pleadings and transcript of the former proceedings are before us, they do not indicate that the defendants were parties. If they were, the burden of showing it should be upon the defendants who plead res judicata. In my view, the plaintiff is entitled to trial of the pending petition, and her exception should be sustained.