## Facts

- Chico H. Schneider, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Swiss origin, died domiciled in New York County.
- Schneider’s estate included real property located in Switzerland.
- Schneider’s New York-probated will attempted to dispose of the Swiss realty in a manner alleged to conflict with Swiss forced-heirship rules granting legitimate heirs a non-divestible fractional share (legitime).
- Before probate, the New York-appointed estate fiduciary sold the Swiss realty and transferred the proceeds to New York, creating a local fund representing the former Swiss immovable.
- In an accounting proceeding, the Surrogate’s Court was asked to direct distribution of the New York fund and determine whether the testamentary disposition of the Swiss realty was valid.

## Issues

1. In determining the validity of a testamentary disposition of foreign immovables, must the court apply the situs’s internal substantive law only, or the situs’s whole law including its conflict-of-laws rules (renvoi)?
2. Does the prior sale of foreign land and transfer of proceeds to New York permit the court to treat the asset as movables governed by domicile law, rather than as immovables governed by situs law?
3. If the whole law of the situs applies, what effect do the situs’s conflict rules have on the decedent’s power to dispose of the property by will?

## Decision

- The court held that succession to foreign real property is governed by the law of the situs, and “law of the situs” means the whole law of the situs, including its conflict-of-laws rules.
- The court treated the New York fund as a substitute for the Swiss realty and decided the dispute as though it concerned the Swiss immovable, not personal property.
- The court ruled that liquidation of the Swiss realty and removal of proceeds to New York was a fortuitous event that did not alter the applicable choice-of-law rule.
- Applying Swiss whole law, the court concluded Swiss conflicts referred the dispositive question (testamentary power over the property) to the law of the decedent’s domicile (New York).
- Under New York law, the will’s disposition was effective; the court therefore directed distribution of the fund in accordance with the will.

## Legal Principles

- Rights of succession in immovables are governed by the law of the situs.
- When a forum applies “the law of the situs” to foreign land, it may apply the situs’s whole law, including the situs’s conflict-of-laws rules (acceptance of renvoi).
- A change in form from foreign land to a local fund during estate administration does not, by itself, change the governing law for determining the beneficiaries’ substantive rights in the substituted proceeds.
- In an estate accounting, a court may adjudicate competing claims to a fund held by a fiduciary within the court’s control, while still applying the choice-of-law rules applicable to the underlying foreign immovable.

## Conclusion

The Surrogate’s Court directed distribution of proceeds from Swiss real property by applying Switzerland’s whole law, including its conflict rules, which referred the dispositive question to New York domicile law; because New York law validated the will’s disposition, the court upheld the testamentary plan and rejected forced-heirship claims based solely on Swiss internal law.


In re Schneider’s Estate, 198 Misc. 1017, 96 N.Y.S.2d 652 (Sur. Ct. N.Y. County 1950)