279 Mass. 293 | Mass. | 1932
The plaintiff describes himself in his bill in equity, which was brought in the Superior Court, as the adopted son and heir at law of W. Starr Lee who died leaving a will which has been duly probated. By his will Lee bequeathed and devised property to “my wife, Nellie L. Lee.” The bill alleges that Mrs. Lee, prior to her marriage to W. Starr Lee, had obtained a divorce from her former husband in the Superior Court, Tolland County,
The plaintiff in his bill asserts rights as the adopted son * and heir at law of Lee. He bases his asserted rights, as he must in order to have any standing in court, upon the decree of adoption entered by the Probate Court on June 17, 1898. The decree of adoption recites that “On the petition of W. Starr Lee . . . and Nellie Louise Lee, his wife, . . . the court being satisfied of the identity and relations of the persons . . . and that it is fit and proper that such adoption should take place; it is decreed that
At the time of the adoption of the plaintiff in 1898, the probate courts were, under St. 1891, c. 415, § 4, courts of superior and general jurisdiction “as regards all cases and matters in which authority” had been given them by the Legislature. At common law there was no right of adoption, and the statutes vest in the probate courts alone the authority to enter decrees of adoption. St. 1851, c. 324. G. L. c. 210. Ross v. Ross, 129 Mass. 243, 262. The general •principle is firmly established by our decisions that the decree of a court of probate relating to a matter within its special province is not open to collateral attack or modification. Farquhar v. New England Trust Co. 261 Mass. 209, 212. Judge v. National Security Bank of Boston, 272 Mass. 286, 289. The decision of this case is governed by that principle and is not affected by decisions in cases where the Probate Court assumed in a probate matter a power not given by statute. Jochumsen v. Suffolk Savings Bank, 3 Allen, 87. Davis v. McGraw, 206 Mass. 294, 298. Jones v. Jones, 223 Mass. 540, 542. Here the authority of the Probate Court to enter the decree of adoption upon the petition filed is not questioned by the plaintiff. It is necessarily insisted upon by him as the basis of the rights which he asserts.
A decree of adoption changes not only the preexisting relation between the adopting parents and the child but as well the relation of the adopting parents to each other. Buckley v. Frasier, 153 Mass. 525, 526. Tucker v. Fisk, 154 Mass. 574, 577. An infant who is adopted becomes the child not of one but of both adopting parents. Mac-
Interlocutory decree affirmed.
Final decree affirmed with costs.