Faye's Story (Part Three)

Today's blog is the final and third part of a client story.  Part One is the back story and context.  Part Two is the will contest. You should read these first if you haven't already done so.    

(CAVEAT: Even though a lot of details are public record, the names and relevant identifying details have been altered in order to maintain any potential attorney-client privilege). 

By the time we reached the point in Faye's story where we determined that the Will was not admissible to probate, almost two years had passed.  During this time, Faye hired a private investigator in Virginia to search for the adoption papers for John and Frank.  We knew that John and Frank were most likely adopted in Virginia, but we did not know exactly where in Virginia and we were not one hundred percent sure that they had not been adopted in Maryland.  This is because very soon after when we believed that the adoption occurred, John and Frank’s adoptive parents moved to Maryland where they lived until their deaths.  The private investigator looked in all of the likely places in Virginia, and then focused his attention on Maryland.  Finding the adoption papers for John and Frank was a two and half year ordeal.  

The investigator first found the probate records of the adoptive parents.  Both the mother and father’s Will referenced John and Frank as their adoptive sons and left them everything.  Nevertheless, this was not direct proof of the adoption.  What we needed was direct evidence of the adoption: a certified copy of the decree of adoption.  So, the investigator kept going and even located the school where John and Frank attended K-12 grade, on the theory that their adoption papers would be in the records.  Unfortunately, this school burned to the ground with all of the records in it.  

After exhausting all potential sources for the adoption paperwork in Maryland and Virginia, Faye then hired an attorney in Virginia in the city where she knew her mother lived after her father left.  This is where we found the divorce decree which stated that four of the five children had been “adopted out” and that Faye was in her father’s custody.  Unfortunately, the divorce decree which recited that four of the five children were “adopted out” this was not direct but rather indirect evidence of the adoptions as well so the search continued. 

Our attorney in Virginia searched long and hard for the adoption paperwork in the town where the divorce was entered, to no avail.  He then turned his attention to where we knew either Faye’s parents had lived or where we believed John and Frank’s adoptive parents lived just prior to their move to Maryland. 

A final hearing was set on the issue of which of the children were legally entitled to inherit and we were set to proceed with the indirect evidence on hand, as well as Faye's testimony.  Without the direct evidence, it would be a decision for the court to make as the trier of fact based on all of the documents and testimony.  If you've never been in this position, let me tell you:  it stinks.  Knowing without doubt that something is true, and being unable to prove it with incontrovertible evidence is the pits both for the client and the attorney.  It would be a massive understatement to say we were stressing over the outcome of this hearing.

Then, for once in her life, luck finally intervened in Faye's favor.  Literally 24 hours before the hearing I received two phone calls.  The first phone call was from Faye.  In going through the attic at her mother’s house she found a box containing all of the adoption paperwork for all four of the adopted children.  None of the paperwork was certified; however, I was confident that I could at least convince the court to give us sufficient time to obtain certified copies now that we knew where to look.  As I hung up with Faye our Virginia attorney called to tell me that he had located the adoption file for John and Frank and that he was overnighting me a certified copy of the adoption papers.  

Once all of the dust settled, John and Frank were forced to drop their remaining action.  Faye inherited one hundred percent of her mother’s estate under the intestate statute because she was the only child who was still legally her mother’s child.    

These events happened a long time ago.  I recently saw Faye at the courthouse and I am sad to say that life continues to be unkind to her.  Faye is one of those people who just seems dogged by tragedy.  Her relationship with John and Frank was irreparably damaged by their actions in the probate.  She still has no contact with Mike (by his choice), and she has no relationship with her nephews by her sister Eliza.  

The greatest irony of the whole thing is that the only asset in the estate was a home.  Not even a particularly valuable home, just a nice little house in a slightly shabby neighborhood.  The most vicious litigation I've ever seen was in probate and in every single case the litigants were not fighting over things, but a mother's love.  

Faye and her brothers never really resolved that issue by fighting over the house and they probably never will.

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