## Facts

- Sam May and Fannie May were related as uncle and niece by the half blood and were members of the Jewish faith.
- In January 1913, they traveled from New York to Rhode Island and entered into a ceremonial marriage that was valid under Rhode Island law at the time.
- About two weeks later, they returned to New York and lived there as husband and wife for approximately thirty-two years.
- Six children were born of the union.
- Fannie May died in 1945.
- In 1951, daughter Alice M. Greenberg petitioned in New York for letters of administration for Fannie’s estate.
- Sam May objected, asserting that he was the surviving husband and therefore had statutory priority to receive letters of administration.
- The Surrogate’s Court held the marriage invalid in New York under a statute declaring uncle–niece marriages “incestuous and void,” and issued letters to Alice.
- The Appellate Division reversed, holding the Rhode Island marriage valid in New York and giving Sam priority.

## Issues

1. Whether New York must give legal effect to an uncle–niece marriage validly celebrated in Rhode Island, despite a New York statute declaring such marriages “incestuous and void” if contracted in New York.
2. Whether, if the marriage is recognized, the husband is the “surviving husband” with statutory priority to administer the decedent’s estate.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division.
- The court held the Rhode Island marriage would be recognized as valid in New York.
- Sam May was treated as the surviving husband and had the preferential statutory right to letters of administration.
- A dissent would have refused recognition based on New York’s statutory prohibition and the couple’s travel to avoid it.

## Legal Principles

- Under conflict-of-laws doctrine, a marriage valid where celebrated is generally valid everywhere.
- A forum may refuse to recognize an out-of-state marriage only when recognition would violate a sufficiently strong and fundamental public policy (a narrow exception).
- A statute declaring certain marriages void when contracted in the forum does not necessarily require invalidating a marriage validly contracted elsewhere absent clear legislative direction.
- In evaluating the public-policy exception, courts may consider the degree of offense to local policy compared to categories traditionally denied recognition (e.g., polygamy or close-line incest) and the stabilizing interest in long-established marital and family status.
- When an out-of-state marriage is recognized, the surviving spouse is entitled to the statutory priority for estate administration.

## Conclusion

New York recognized a Rhode Island marriage between an uncle and niece that was valid where celebrated, concluding that New York’s public policy and incest statute did not require nonrecognition of this foreign marriage; the husband therefore qualified as the surviving spouse with priority to administer the decedent’s estate.


In re May's Estate, 305 N.Y. 486, 114 N.E.2d 4 (N.Y. 1953)