Better Late Than Never: Best of 2013

Short and sweet:  These were the top 3 posts based on page views on this blog for 2013.

1.  The Story of Arnie and Ophelia

2. Thoughts on Women Attorneys and the Conundrum of Appearance

3.  Faye's Story: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Julie





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Copyright 2014 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved

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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Copyright 2013 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved

Faye's Story (Part Two)

Today's blog is the second part of a three part client story.  Part One is the back story and context. You should read it first if you haven't already done so.  Part Two is the will contest.  Part Three (coming Friday) is the conclusion. 

(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). 

Unfortunately, the adoption papers which Faye's mother kept in her Bible disappeared after the funeral.  Since the loss of the adoption paperwork worked to their benefit, John and Frank were the obvious suspects.  Because the adoptions occurred so long in the past and in another state, we had to hire a private investigator to find proof of the adoptions.  As for Eliza, a search of local records found a copy of her obituary which clearly referenced her adoptive mother and her natural mother.  This was enough to convince Eliza’s sons that they should back out of the litigation and they did so early on.   John and Frank on the other hand were also well aware that they had been adopted by an aunt and uncle, but were adamant that they were not adopted.  John and Frank were in it for the cash.  Because we could not find their adoption paperwork we had to proceed on their Will contest.     

In any Will contest regarding the proper execution of the Will, the most important people are the two witnesses to the Will.  If the Will is self proven, the notary is the third most important person.  If the two witnesses give testimony which contradict each other, or show that the Will was not executed properly then the proponent of the Will will lose on that ground.  So in the course of things, I found myself in Pensacola deposing the two witnesses to the holographic Will.  The witnesses were unrelated to each other in any way except they were both friends of Faye and her mother.   On the day that Faye’s mother executed her Will, they were having a party at her house which sounded like a cookout.  Both witnesses gave consistent testimony regarding the manner in which they witnessed the Will.  Unfortunately for Faye, the witnesses’ testimony also completely invalidated the Will.

Apparently, Faye’s mother hand wrote her Will and signed it.  During the party, she asked the first witness to witness her signature.  This part was done correctly in that Faye’s mother showed the signed Will and then attested to her signature to the witness and asked the witness to sign as a witness.  The problem is that the first witness witnessed the Will while the second witness was on the back deck drinking a beer.  Thereafter, the first witness went to the restroom and the second witness came in and Faye’s mother repeated the process.  Thus, neither witness was in presence of each other at all, much less in the presence of Faye's mother and each other, as is required by the Will statute. 

The end result of this was that Faye’s mother was intestate.  The brothers were counting on this because then they would inherit (under their reasoning) an intestate share of their mother’s estate.  Because Faye’s mother was not married at the time of her death her estate would be divided into four equal shares:  one each for Faye and her two brothers John and Frank, and one to be divided by Eliza’s children.  Everyone agreed that Mike had been adopted by strangers, so there was never any suggestion that he would inherit any of Faye’s mother’s estate.    

So, Faye's entire inheritance turned on proving the adoption of John and Frank by the aunt and uncle.  This proved to be incredibly difficult and ultimately required the services of a P.I. and an attorney in two different states as well as some luck.

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Copyright 2013 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved