A Soviet Citizen To Undergo Probate In The U.s. !!link!!: First Will Of

For nearly three decades, the American legal system operated on a cold war assumption: that a citizen of the Soviet Union had no enforceable property rights on U.S. soil. That assumption crumbled in a quiet Manhattan surrogate’s court last month, as Judge Miriam Goldman officially admitted to probate the last will and testament of Alexei Ivanovich Volkov—marking the first time an American court has recognized and executed the estate of a Soviet national.

Note: This is a fictionalized historical reconstruction based on legal possibilities, not an actual case. No known record exists of a Soviet citizen’s will being probated as the “first” in the U.S.; this piece imagines how such a precedent might have unfolded. For nearly three decades, the American legal system

New York, 1974

The court agreed. In a terse three-page decision, Judge Goldman wrote: “The decedent’s Soviet nationality does not divest this court of jurisdiction over property physically located in New York. His will is self-proving under EPTL 3-2.1. Therefore, probate is granted.” In a terse three-page decision, Judge Goldman wrote: