In re Proving the Last Will of McElwaine

The preliminary question concerns the domicile of the alleged testatrix. If her last domicile was in this county, her will is entitled to probate before me. If her last domicile was in the state of California, the surrogate has no jurisdiction of this proceeding.

The legal notion of domicile was originally taken from the Civil Law. Code, lib. X, tit. 39, 1. “ Ubi quis larem rerumque ac fortunarían suarum surritmam constiiuit: unde rursus non sit discessurus, si nihil avocet, unde cum profectus est peregrinan videtur, quo si rediit, peregrmari jam destitit ” This definition is said to be the root of all subse

The common law, however, contains an independent conception, “ domicile of origin,” which is now defined as the primary domicile of every person subject to the common law. In Bell v. Kennedy, L. R. (1 Sc. App.) 320, it was pointed out with emphasis that domicile and residence are perfectly distinct things. Our own courts are equally clear on this distinction. Matter of Newcomb, 192 N. Y. 238 . In the case of married women the domicile of the husband is usually the domicile of the wife, and this even if she is living apart from him. Dalhousie v. McDonall, 7 C. & F. 817; Whitcomb v. Whitcomb, 2 Curt. 351 ; Matter of Daly’s Settlement, 25 B. 486 ; Jones v. Jones, 8 Misc. Rep. 660 ; Matter of Majot, 199 N. Y. 29 . If a married woman is judicially separated from her husband, or there are other exceptional circumstances, such as his abandonment of her, she may sometimes acquire an independent domicile. But there is nothing of this kind in this case now before me. Mrs. McElwaine occasionally lived apart from her husband for long periods, but at no time was there a judicial separation, nor did the husband ever “ abandon ” her. • Her domicile of origin was Hew York, and her husband’s domicile was also at Hew York. Two leading factors thus concur in this matter (the domicile of origin and the matrimonial domicile) and they are of weight with me in arriving at my conclusion.

By the common law every person sui juris is at liberty to change his or her domicile and acquire a new one, called a “ domicile of choice.” Matter of Newcomb, 192 N. Y. 238 , 250. In this matter it is asserted by contestant that Mrs. McElwaine duly exercised this right, if it appertained to her status, and that she established her independent domicile in California during her husband’s life. Certainly when she went to California temporarily, on business of her brother’s estate, her husband was alive in Hew York, where were both his domicile and her domicile of origin. Even if Mrs. McElwaine was then, or subsequently, free, or in a position to choose an independent domicile for herself, or enti

It is incumbent on those who assert a change of domicile or a “ domicile of choice ” on the part of Mrs. McElwaine, to make it out by competent and sufficient evidence; otherwise her domicile of origin or her matrimonial domicile (which happened here to coincide) must prevail. Dupuy v. Wurtz, 53 N. Y. 556 ; Matter of Newcomb, 192 id. 238.

There is no doubt some conflict in the evidence submitted to me in this proceeding — some facts point one way, but more another. On the trial I ventured to remark to counsel as follows: “ In the ease of a woman, very little importance is attached to domicile, except a domicile of intention and a domicile of choice. Mrs. McElwaine’s actual or de facto domicile during her later years seems to have been pretty much where her trunk was; yet her domicile of origin and her matrimonial domicile were here. How, the domicile of intention, as far as this evidence shows, was also here. She was for a time in California, Los Angeles, and she stated in her petition for letters of administration in California on the estate of her brother, that she was a resident of California, and she then was. • She probably had not a very clear conception of what ‘ residence ’ meant in law. She was there and was residing there, and meant to stay there until she wound up the estate. I do not believe that there is any doubt about that.” But that is not enough. All the later declarations and actions of Mrs. McElwaine point to Hew York as her true or legal domicile, and they are unfavorable to a change of her domicile of origin.

Decreed accordingly.