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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Father disinherited from son's estate for abandonment

Here is a twist on the usual stories we hear about people being disinherited. Usually the story is that a parent left a child out of the will. In this case from Kentucky, a father has been disinherited for abandoning his son.

A young man named Brandon died in a car accident when he was 24 years old and did not leave a will. His parents, being his next of kin, should be the people who would inherit his estate. Brandon did not have an especially large estate but there was quite a bit of interest in the fact that there would be a large settlement arising from the fatal car accident.

Brandon's mother objected to Brandon's father receiving half of the estate on the basis that the father had abandoned the boy. Brandon's parents were never married, and in fact it wasn't until Brandon was 7 years old that his mother sought out the father and told him about Brandon. The father acknowledged that he was the father and paid the amount of child support ordered by the court for a few years. The father saw Brandon only a couple of times. When Brandon was 11, his mother married and Brandon's surname was changed to that of his new step-father. After that, the father had no contact with Brandon and paid no child support.

For more detail about the facts of the family history, here is the story.

In court, the judge agreed with the mother that the father had abandoned Brandon and therefore under the state law he was not entitled to any part of the estate or of the accident settlement. The father appealed, but the appeals court also agreed with the mother.

It's an interesting concept from an estate litigation point of view because the crux of the issue seems to be whether the father deserved to inherit something. Most of the time, estate law gives a right to inherit to people regardless of whether they are deserving or how they have behaved. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, since all rules have exceptions but as a general statement it's the legal relationship that creates rights and not the quality of the relationship.

Brandon lived in a state where the law specifically addresses the issue of parental abandonment. I have looked at the law of several provinces and I do not see an equivalent provision. I suspect that our courts might have a very different outcome on the same facts.

I'd love to hear what you readers think about this. Should Brandon's father  have the same right to inherit as his mother? Is this a case of a disinterested parent suddenly getting interested because of the money, and if so, should that matter? Should a parent have a right to inherit just as a child would, even if the relationship was not especially good?

7 comments:

  1. Absolutely not. This is why Estate Law is so archaic. Major overhauls need to be done by most of the Common Law provinces. It is also why I am attempting to have the law changed for those with intellectual disabilities and they can have their assets protected upon death. Succession Law does not include step parents and step siblings who may have been far more involved in their lives than blood family.

    Anne F

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree that most provinces need plenty of overhauls to their estate laws. Even those who are the most advanced don't, to my knowledge, address the issue of the RIGHT of parents to inherit regardless of the relationship. In many ways the law reflects the way society supposedly looked 50 or 100 years ago and doesn't help contemporary families.

      The law is constantly changing and updating, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

      Lynne

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  2. Interesting article. Won't help me much since my brother & his family already either took or lost most of our estate assets. And I doubt that in Ontario I would ever live to see that kind of justice, particularly since Sudbury, Ontario is the most corrupt city in Ontario.

    ReplyDelete
  3. without knowing the background..ie did mom alienate the boy from his father, was there external pressure put on this boy so the stepfather would not resent the boy or his mother...and who decided he was abandoned..his mom..step dad or himself. would have been east to solve if he really resented bio dad by leaving him $100 or some token amount so the courts would be clear on his intentions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You raise several good points. When the idea of people only inheriting when they deserve it is raised, it makes me dread the cans of worms that will be opened. People will be sniping and back-stabbing each other mercilessly (even more than they already do in estate law) to prove that they were better kids or better parents or better whatevers to the person who died.

      You're right that leaving a will would have made his intentions clear, but since he was so young, it's not surprising he didn't have one.

      Lynne

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  4. The laws need to be updated
    I raised my nephew from birth. His mother was murdered and his father abandoned both his kids at 2 and 3 never to be seen again
    No child support and zero contact
    My nephew died after he got into a car accident and ended up with pneumonia and a UTI which led to sepsis. I cared for him his whole life including while he was completely paralyzed for 5 years after his accident. Nobody ever came to help or visit and I had my own severely autistic daughter.
    Now the father is next of kin for the lawsuit we’re filing for medical malpractice even though my nephew and I both signed with the lawyers before he died. He had no will
    His dad is a felon and rapist. He abandoned his kids their entire life. Why should he come along and take the settlement after he never even knew either one of his kids let alone was a parent to either one of them. There needs to be laws in place for deadbeat parents to be disinherited no matter what if they purposely abandoned their child/children.
    Jersey has such a law, but my nephews attorney doesn’t seem to care!!!! Unbelievable
    In 2009 jersey made a law saying if you abandoned your child for 10 or more years you’re not entitled to their inheritance. My nephew was abandoned for 26 years. His father should get nothing.
    Change these laws in every state!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a Canadian site so we won't be involved in the changes in the various American states. However I agree that there is plenty of room for improvement and modernization of estate law. It is, after all, law that was made for the most part, more than 100 years ago. The legislators are already beginning to integrate new laws that contemplate new and unusual forms of families. There is also movement towards recognizing that someone else might be the true parent even though a biological parent is alive.

      Progress is being made, though it's slow.

      Lynne

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