In Re the Estate of May

Lewis, Ch. J.

In this proceeding, involving the administration of the estate of Fannie May, deceased, we are to determine whether the marriage in 1913 between the respondent Sam May and the decedent, who was his niece by the half blood — which marriage was celebrated in Rhode Island, where concededly such marriage is valid — is to be given legal effect in New York where statute law declares incestuous and void a marriage between uncle and niece. (Domestic Relations Law, § 5, subd. 3.)

The question thus presented arises from proof of the following facts: The petitioner Alice May Greenberg, one…