Johnson v. Muelberger (340 U.S. 581)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 12, 1951 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 340 U.S. 581 · 71 S. Ct. 474
- Decided
- March 12, 1951
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 7–1
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. The right of a daughter to attack in New York the validity of her deceased father’s Florida divorce is before us. She was his legatee. The divorce was granted in Florida after the father appeared there and contested the merits. The issue turns on the effect in New York under these circumstances of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Federal Constitution. Eleanor Johnson Muelberger, respondent, is the child of decedent E. Bruce Johnson’s first marriage. After the death of Johnson’s first wife in 1939, he married one Madoline Ham, and they established their residence in New York. In August 1942, Madoline obtained a divorce from him in a Florida proceeding, although the undisputed facts as developed in the New York Surrogate’s hearing show that she did not comply with the jurisdictional ninety-day residence requirement. The New York Surrogate found that “In the Florida court, the decedent appeared by attorney and interposed an answer denying the wrongful acts but not questioning the allegations as to residence in Florida. The record discloses that testimony was taken by the Florida court and the divorce granted Madoline Johnson. Both parties had full opportunity to contest the jurisdictional issues in that court and the decree is not subject to attack on the ground that petitioner was not domiciled in Florida.” In 1944 Mr.…
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