Matter of McCullough

In Matter of McCullough, 129 Misc. 113, 221 N.Y.S. 535 [Sur Ct, NY County 1926]), Surrogate Foley refused to apply comity to the decree of a sister state appointing an administratrix to bar the initiation of a probate proceeding. In McCullough, the decedent was a Colorado domicile. His widow, who was his sole distributee, applied for and received letters of administration from the Colorado Probate Court. The decedent had executed a will leaving one half of his estate in trust for his widow, with the remainder to a cousin, and the balance outright to his two sisters, one of whom he appointed as executrix. The executrix filed for original probate in New York. The widow moved to discontinue the New York proceedings and transmit the will to Colorado for probate proceedings there. The court denied the widow's motion to discontinue the New York proceedings and transmit the will to Colorado for further proceedings there. The court found that the bulk of the estate was personal property located in New York and held that exercised its discretion to grant original probate under the predecessor of SCPA 1605.