In re May's Estate
Court of Appeals of New York
114 N.E.2d 4 (N.Y. 1953)
Sam May traveled with his half-blood niece Fannie May from New York to Rhode Island, where they married in a traditional Jewish ceremony; the marriage was valid where celebrated. The couple later had six children. After Fannie's death, her daughter Alice Greenberg (plaintiff) sought letters of administration over Fannie's estate in New York; Sam objected, claiming a surviving spouse's superior right to administer the estate under state law. Greenberg and her sisters argued Sam wasn't actually Fannie's surviving spouse because their marriage, though valid in Rhode Island, violated New York law forbidding uncle-niece marriages. The trial court agreed with Greenberg, but the appellate court reversed, finding the marriage valid in New York because that degree of kinship wasn't expressly barred by statute. Greenberg and her sisters appealed further.
Whether a marriage lawfully solemnized in one state between an uncle and his half-blood niece will be declared void in another state absent an express statutory prohibition or unless the union offends the public sense of morality.