## Facts

- In 1928, Mary E. Barrie, a resident of Sterling, Illinois, executed a will in Illinois, signed by her and witnessed as required for due execution.
- The will directed distribution of her property (after conversion to cash) to four beneficiaries, including the First Presbyterian Church of Sterling, Illinois (First Presbyterian).
- Barrie owned property in Illinois and also owned 160 acres of real property in Tama County, Iowa.
- Barrie died in 1944.
- After her death, the will was found with the word “void” written across the face of the instrument in multiple places; similar “void” markings appeared on the cover and the envelope containing the will.
- Illinois probate proceedings resulted in the Illinois Supreme Court refusing to admit the will to probate on the ground that the “void” writings constituted revocation by cancellation under Illinois law.
- Because the will was denied probate in Illinois, Barrie’s Illinois property was distributed under Illinois intestacy rules.
- First Presbyterian later sought to have the same instrument admitted to probate in Iowa to affect the distribution of Barrie’s Iowa real estate.
- Barrie’s heirs objected in the Iowa probate proceeding, arguing that the Illinois determination of revocation was conclusive and barred probate in Iowa.
- The Iowa district court overruled First Presbyterian’s motion to strike the heirs’ objections, permitting the heirs to litigate their full faith and credit / preclusion arguments.
- First Presbyterian appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Does the Full Faith and Credit Clause require Iowa to treat the Illinois judgment refusing probate (based on revocation) as conclusive regarding the will’s effect on Iowa real property?
2. Do res judicata or collateral estoppel bind Iowa courts to the Illinois finding that the will was revoked, when the will is offered to pass title to land located in Iowa?
3. Is revocation (and related validity questions) of a will, insofar as it affects Iowa land, governed by Iowa law as the law of the situs?

## Decision

- The Iowa Supreme Court reversed the order overruling First Presbyterian’s motion to strike and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that the Illinois judgment refusing probate was not conclusive in Iowa as to the will’s effect on Iowa real property.
- Full faith and credit did not require Iowa to accept Illinois’s revocation determination as binding for purposes of succession to Iowa land.
- Res judicata and collateral estoppel did not preclude Iowa from determining, under Iowa law, whether the will had been revoked as to Iowa real estate.
- Iowa, as the situs state, could apply its own law to decide the effect of the instrument on title to Iowa land, notwithstanding Illinois’s denial of probate.

## Legal Principles

- The validity and effect of a will devising real property, including whether it has been revoked, are governed by the law of the state where the land is located (lex rei sitae).
- A probate decree from another state granting or denying probate is not conclusive in the situs state on questions that determine title or succession to real property located outside the rendering state.
- The Full Faith and Credit Clause does not require a state to yield control over title to land within its borders to another state’s probate judgment.
- Preclusion doctrines (res judicata and collateral estoppel) do not bind the situs state to a foreign probate determination when the foreign court could not finally determine title to out-of-state land.

## Conclusion

The Iowa Supreme Court held that Illinois’s judgment refusing probate on revocation grounds did not control the disposition of Barrie’s Iowa real estate; Iowa could decide, under Iowa law, whether the will was revoked and what effect it had on title to land located in Iowa.


In re Barrie's Estate, 35 N.W.2d 658 (1949)