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New York County, Surrogate's Court: May 2, 2023

Decision & Order & Decrees signed between:April 26 & 28, 2023

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Decision & Order decided on: April 27, 2023 Surrogate Gingold

ESTATE OF CELESTE MARTIN, Deceased (19-269/C) — Incident to her final accounting in the estate of Celeste Martin, the Public Administrator requests a determination of the identity of decedent’s distributees. Based upon the proof submitted at a kinship hearing held before a court-attorney referee, in which a guardian ad litem appointed to represent unknown distributees participated, the court finds that decedent was survived by eight maternal first cousins once removed (one of whom post-deceased) and four paternal first cousins once removed (two of whom post-deceased) as her sole distributees. Two other objectants, Marianne Honan Lopapa and Pamela Honan Macri (collectively, “claimants”) are not related to decedent, but their stepmother was decedent’s first cousin. Claimants argue that their stepmother was like a mother to them. One claimant claims her stepmother was the only mother she had ever known. Both claimants called her “mom” and thought of her as their mother, and she thought of claimants as her daughters. They were a “very close, loving family.” Their stepmother bequeathed claimants a little over half of her estate in her will. Even though their stepmother never legally adopted claimants, or even indicated her intent to adopt claimants, claimants argue that they were equitably adopted by their stepmother based on this loving mother-daughter relationship. Through this argument of equitable adoption, claimants also claim they are entitled to inherit a portion of decedent’s estate, as they should be considered decedent’s first cousins once removed.

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