In re the Accounting of Wampfler

Wright, S.

Decedent was married in 1938 to Leona Seovill Wampfler who later became incompetent and was committed to the St. Lawrence State Hospital where she still is a patient. On January 15, 1947, decedent obtained a decree of annulment of his marriage to Leona Seovill Wampfler under the provisions of subdivision 5 of section 7 of the Domestic Relations Law on the ground that his wife had been incurably insane for five years or more. Decedent remarried and left a will making the second wife the beneficiary of his estate.

The question here raised is to what extent, if any, the decree of…