First Soviet Citizen Will Probated In The United States //free\\ | Official & Fresh

“This is not about politics,” Judge Rehnquist stated from the bench. “It is about determining what set of laws—Delaware’s, the defunct USSR’s, or modern Belarus’s—governs the distribution of a deceased person’s property. We are in uncharted waters.”

Judge Marcus C. Rehnquist, presiding over the Chancery Court’s probate docket, has ordered a "dual-tracking" approach. A forensic genealogist will attempt to establish Mrs. Volkov-Morrison’s legal nationality at the time of the USSR’s dissolution, while a separate master will review the validity of the 2021 Will under Delaware’s Uniform Probate Code. first soviet citizen will probated in the united states

According to court filings, the estate is valued at approximately $4.2 million, consisting primarily of real estate in Delaware, a collection of Soviet-era art, and a bank account in Cyprus. The Will names two primary beneficiaries: her son, Dmitri Volkov of Brooklyn, New York, and a charitable foundation supporting Russian-language poets. “This is not about politics,” Judge Rehnquist stated

The decedent, identified as , a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Minsk in 1992, passed away last month at her home in Greenville, Delaware. Her Last Will and Testament, signed in 2021, has triggered a complex, multi-jurisdictional process that legal scholars say will test the limits of international estate law. According to court filings, the estate is valued