The decedent, identified as , a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Minsk in 1992, passed away last month at her home in Greenville, Delaware. Her Last Will and Testament, signed in 2021, has triggered a complex, multi-jurisdictional process that legal scholars say will test the limits of international estate law.
According to court filings, the estate is valued at approximately $4.2 million, consisting primarily of real estate in Delaware, a collection of Soviet-era art, and a bank account in Cyprus. The Will names two primary beneficiaries: her son, Dmitri Volkov of Brooklyn, New York, and a charitable foundation supporting Russian-language poets. first soviet citizen will probated in the united states
“The Soviet legal principle of ‘socialist inheritance’ prioritizes the collective,” the Belarusian filing reads. “Mrs. Volkov-Morrison never formally renounced her original nationality during the dissolution window of 1991-1994.” The decedent, identified as , a naturalized U
The case has drawn intense interest from the estimated 750,000 former Soviet citizens living in the United States who naturalized after 1991. Many have outdated wills that refer to their "Soviet" birth. According to court filings, the estate is valued
Wilmington, Delaware – April 14, 2026 — In a landmark legal first, the Superior Court of Delaware has formally opened probate proceedings for the estate of a former Soviet citizen, marking the first time a person born under the flag of the USSR has had their last will and testament adjudicated on American soil.
“This is not about politics,” Judge Rehnquist stated from the bench. “It is about determining what set of laws—Delaware’s, the defunct USSR’s, or modern Belarus’s—governs the distribution of a deceased person’s property. We are in uncharted waters.”