Probate. When a person dies all of their property goes into a probate proceeding. Probate itemizes all the assets of the decedent, resolves all the debts; pays the taxes and distributes the assets. These functions are handled by the executor of the will, who is usually named in the will and confirmed by the court.
The DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA) is a Federal law enacted on September 21, 1996 by then President Bill Clinton. The law essentially leaves it up to the States to decide whether to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another State that permits such actions.
Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act remained the prime legal statement on clandestine marriages and the marriage law until the legal reforms instigated by Lord Brogham in the 1840s and 1850s. 1  1. Lawrence Stone, Uncertain Unions: Marriage in England, 1660-1753 (London: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 236-274.