Matter of Geiger

Full title: In the Matter of the Accounting of SELMA BROWN et al., as Executors of…

Court: Surrogate's Court, Nassau County

Date published: Apr 24, 1961

28 Misc. 2d 655 (N.Y. Surr. Ct. 1961)

213 N.Y.S.2d 946

Opinion

April 24, 1961

Theodore Ornstein and Edward Elman for petitioners.

Walter S. Doernberg for Clarence Simon and others.

Joseph Trachtman for Dorothy T. Tanzer, as executrix.

Bernays Eisner, former attorneys for Dorothy T. Tanzer, as executrix.

Sidney B. Alexander for Jerome H. Friedman and another.

Max Blecher, Jr., for Peter A. Weiner.

Guzik Boukstein for Vice Consul of State of Israel.

Wolf Popper Ross Wolf Jones for Ladislau Geiger.

Carl Rachlin and Lester Migdal for Paul Wiener.

Joseph Caputo, as special guardian for Miklos Geiger and others, and for all unknown distributees.

Ujlaki Allen for Clarisse Gustav and others.

JOHN D. BENNETT, S.

In this accounting proceeding, a hearing was held to determine whether one of the residuary beneficiaries, Miklos Geiger and his issue, predeceased the testator. A number of affidavits and correspondence, together with an unauthenticated declaration of deaths by the City Court of Debrecen, Hungary, has been submitted to establish the deaths of Miklos Geiger, his wife, and issue. The special guardian's objections to the acceptance of these papers and documents into evidence must, on the present state of the record, be sustained since the finding of deaths by the foreign court is unauthenticated, and the correspondence and affidavits are hearsay statements not subject to cross-examination.

The judgment of August 23, 1956, in the Supreme Court action is not res judicata on the question of the deaths of Miklos Geiger and his issue, since it does not appear that either he or his issue were parties to that action. However, the court is of the opinion that an opportunity should be afforded the parties to authenticate the declaration of deaths by the foreign court (see Richardson, Evidence [8th ed.], § 633), and for such purposes application should be made for a further hearing. In addition, there should be considered the advisability of obtaining an expert in Hungarian law to testify to the law of that country governing the practice and procedure in declarations of death (see Matter of Kohn, 124 N.Y.S.2d 861).