Estate of Blak

John C. Doest, who is the surviving brother of Gysbertus Doest, otherwise known as John Blak, appeals from two orders in probate by which he was barred from taking any interest in the estate of his brother. Both orders were made upon the same day, December 29, 1942, when two contested petitions were consolidated for hearing: (1) petition for partial distribution filed by appellant, in which he stated that, as an heir at law of the decedent, he was entitled to all the residue of the estate; (2) a petition to determine heirship filed by Hendrika Doest, the daughter of decedent and a citizen of The Netherlands, residing in Amsterdam, in which she stated that she was the sole and only heir at law of the decedent.

In support of his claim that he is the heir at law entitled to inherit his brother’s property, appellant directs our attention to sections 259, 259.1 and 259.2 of the Probate Code, enacted by the Legislature in 1941, effective on July 1st of that year. (Stats. 1941, chap. 895.) They read as follows:

At the trial, a portion of a letter from the State Department at Washington, D. C., addressed to counsel for appellant, was received in evidence, reading as follows: “In reply…