## Facts

- Mrs. Simons and her husband, Sol Simons, were domiciled in New York when she obtained a 1946 New York separation decree awarding monthly alimony.
- In 1952, after moving to Florida, Sol obtained a Florida divorce in a proceeding where Mrs. Simons received constructive notice by publication and did not make a personal appearance.
- Sol continued making the New York alimony payments until his death in Florida in 1960.
- Sol’s will was offered for probate in Florida and made no provision for Mrs. Simons.
- Mrs. Simons appeared in the Florida probate proceeding and elected to take dower under Florida law.
- The executor denied dower, asserting that the Florida divorce ended the marriage and therefore eliminated any dower entitlement.
- Mrs. Simons filed a separate Florida action seeking to set aside the divorce decree and, alternatively, a declaration that the divorce did not extinguish her dower rights.
- In the U.S. Supreme Court, she abandoned any challenge to the divorce’s validity as to termination of marital status, leaving only the dower question.

## Issues

1. Whether a valid Florida ex parte divorce, obtained with service by publication and no personal appearance by the nonresident wife, could constitutionally extinguish the wife’s claimed dower in the husband’s Florida estate.
2. Whether denying dower under these circumstances violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause in light of the prior New York separation decree.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for the executor.
- The Court held Florida’s denial of dower did not violate the Full Faith and Credit Clause because the New York separation decree preserved no dower rights and had been fully complied with.
- The Court held any Florida dower interest was inchoate under Florida law and was extinguished by the valid Florida divorce, even though based on constructive service.

## Legal Principles

- Full Faith and Credit does not require a state to preserve rights that are not created or preserved by a sister-state judgment, particularly where the sister-state decree has been satisfied.
- An ex parte divorce may validly adjudicate marital status without personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse, but it cannot necessarily terminate distinct, vested obligations created by prior judgments of another state.
- Under Florida law, dower is an inchoate expectancy during the husband’s life and becomes choate only if the husband dies while still married; a valid divorce terminates that expectancy, including when obtained on constructive service.

## Conclusion

The Court upheld Florida’s denial of dower because the New York separation decree created only an alimony obligation that had been satisfied and did not preserve dower, and because Florida treated dower as an inchoate interest that a valid Florida divorce could extinguish even when the wife was served only by publication and did not appear.


Simons v. Miami Beach First Nat’l Bank, 381 U.S. 81 (1965)