## Facts

- A Connecticut domiciliary widower traveled to Italy and, on December 8, 1951, married his niece, an Italian national.
- Italian law generally prohibited uncle–niece marriages but permitted them by dispensation; the couple obtained a dispensation and the marriage was valid in Italy.
- The husband returned to Connecticut; the wife later joined him in 1956, and they lived together in Hartford as husband and wife until his death in 1958.
- The couple had a child.
- After the husband’s death, the wife applied in probate for a statutory widow’s allowance from the estate, asserting she was the surviving spouse.
- The probate court denied the allowance. On appeal, the superior court reserved the dispositive legal question for the state supreme court on stipulated facts.

## Issues

1. Whether Connecticut recognizes as valid an uncle–niece marriage, valid where celebrated abroad, when Connecticut statutes declare such marriages void as against state policy.
2. If the marriage is not recognized, whether the claimant qualifies as a “surviving spouse” entitled to a statutory widow’s allowance from the decedent’s estate.

## Decision

- The court answered the reserved question against the claimant.
- Although the marriage was valid in Italy, it was invalid in Connecticut because it conflicted with Connecticut’s longstanding statutory policy declaring uncle–niece marriages void.
- Because the marriage was treated as void in Connecticut, the claimant was not the decedent’s surviving spouse and was not entitled to a widow’s allowance.

## Legal Principles

- A marriage valid where celebrated is generally recognized as valid, but recognition is denied when the marriage violates a strong and clearly declared public policy of the forum.
- Connecticut statutes declaring certain consanguineous marriages (including uncle–niece) void reflect a long-established, firm state policy that bars recognition even if the marriage was validly celebrated elsewhere.
- A foreign-marriage recognition statute addressing marriages contracted abroad by state citizens does not authorize evasion of explicit statutory prohibitions on marriages the state declares void.
- Rights dependent on spousal status under probate statutes do not arise from a marriage treated as void under forum law.

## Conclusion

Connecticut refused to recognize an uncle–niece marriage validly celebrated in Italy because state law declared such unions void as against public policy; therefore, the claimant was not a surviving spouse and could not receive a widow’s allowance from the estate.


Catalano v. Catalano, 170 A.2d 726 (Conn. 1961)