Posted by Lisa on 12/21/01

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I am a paralegal and was asked as a favor to the family of
the decedent (My husband and I knew Ben for over 15 years)
to keep track of what the estate attorney was doing; to
make sure that his surviving daughter was taken care of
correctly. The Case is as follows: Ben was killed last
year along with his 9 month old (illigitimate) daughter.
Ben believed he was single at the time and had bought a
ring and was planning to go to Vegas the following weekend
(hotel arrangements were made, ring was bought, etc.)Ben
believed that he was divorced. However, he had forgotten
to file the Notice of Entry of Judgment.(Ben had not lived
with his ex-wife in 3 years and was engaged to the mother
of his 9 month old daughter who was also killed). Ben had
been paying alimony to Sheronica from 1997 to the date of
his death at the rate of $1100.00/mo. After his death I
checked on many estate attorneys and gave the family the
phone numbers for their final decision. The family has
always been aware that I am not an attorney. They chose
the estate attorney who used my research and hours of work
to get a dissolution judgment to 3/24/98 (the origial date
of the initial divorce - (filed by the ex-wife). At this
point I thought everything was fine. Approx. a month later
the Estate atty. told me that he had found a way to get
Ben's surviving daughter more money. I said fine as long
as he and Sheronica remain divorced. (family's wishes and
Ben's - Ex-wife abused Ben physically and mentally). The
atty. said nothing. When the Wrongful Death/PI case was
filed, It was discovered that the Estate atty. had gone
back to court and vacated the divorce. What he did was to
change the marital status so that the ex-wife would receive
surviving spouse benefits (to which she was not entitled to
in my opinion) and she would sign away her rights by July
27, 2001. Needlesstosay, the ex-wife never signed the
agreement and is now the surviving spouse. Sheronica is
now attempting to consolidate her wrongful death/PI action
with Ben's fiancee. Sheronica has made it known that she
does not plan to sign any agreement. I am sick about this
as I know that there was no love lost between Ben and
Sheronica and that Ben truly thought he was divorced from
the ex and was very happy about it. Is the action of the
Estate attorney ethical. I am sure it is legal,
however,where do you draw the line. Ben's daughter is
scheduled to get approx. 465,000.00 without this extra
money. (I feel the surviving spousal benefit is not
legitimately hers.)This atty. has left the family wide open
to give the ex-wife free rein over everything. He has not
moved on anything since the date of the vacation of the
dissolution 7/27/01. This is approximately 5 months. I
feel this is completely wrong. Please let me know if I'm
missing anything here. I find it hard to believe that this
atty. who knew the wishes of the family, would even
consider a move like this. The ex-wife has a history of
robbery, spousal abuse and spending money. In fact with
this last offer, the fact that she won't sign it shows that
she is not concerned with her daughter at all. Please
answer me at your earliest convenience. This is
heartbreaking. Also, I am not an estate/probate paralegal,
Is the attorney fee paid on a percentage of how much money
is received for the decedent's estate? How are they paid?
Thank you for your time. Lisa.

Is it ethical to change a decedent's marital status?, 12/21/01, by Lisa.

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