Her Will Was The First Of A Soviet Citizen To Undergo Probate In The U.s. -

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a routine matter. A lawyer would file the will, the court would validate it, and the assets would transfer to the grieving sister. But Olga Tsubb was a Soviet citizen, and the Soviet Union did not recognize the right of private inheritance in the same way the West did. The Soviet state operated under a principle of state ownership; private property was anathema to the ideology. While personal belongings could be inherited, "capitalist" assets—like stocks and bank accounts—were viewed with suspicion.

In the 1966 Estate of Larkin case, the California Supreme Court finally established that reciprocity did exist. Evidence showed that U.S. citizens were, in fact, sharing in Soviet estates on similar terms as Soviet citizens, allowing the wishes of Soviet testators to be honored in American courts. Modern Implications of International Probate

Theis argued that while Olga was a Soviet citizen, the property was located in New York. Under the conflict of laws principles, the law of the situs—the location of the property—should govern the transfer. He argued that to deny the will would be to impose Soviet Marxist legal theory on American soil, effectively confiscating private property within the jurisdiction of the State of New York. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a

Mary Smith, the sister, refused to back down. "She was born here," Mary told her lawyer, Jacob R. Theis. "She worked for that money before she ever left. It’s hers to give."

On the day of the decision, the courtroom was packed with law students and reporters. The Soviet state operated under a principle of

Nicholas Stupashenko faded into obscurity, living quietly in the United States. Kasimira’s will—a few handwritten lines on a single page—remained archived in the D.C. probate court, a forgotten artifact. But in legal textbooks and State Department files, her name endures.

Kasimira was the wife of , a former Soviet official who had served as the assistant military attaché at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1945, as World War II ended, Nicholas did something extraordinary: he defected. Citing a loss of faith in the Stalinist regime, he walked away from the embassy and sought asylum in the United States. Evidence showed that U

“It is the view of the Department that the decedent, Kasimira Stupashenko, was a Soviet citizen at the time of her death. However, there is no bar in international law or U.S. domestic law to the probate of her will in the District of Columbia. The fact that the Soviet Union might claim an interest in her estate does not preclude the orderly administration of her assets located within U.S. territory. This appears to be the first instance in which a Soviet citizen’s will has been offered for probate in the United States.”