04 Jan Son’s Petition to Disqualify his Mother From Inheriting From Her Deceased Son’s Estate Denied by the Court
The mother of the decedent was the sole distributee but her son petitioned for declaratory relief so that he and his siblings would qualify as distributes and inherit the portion of the estate passing by intestacy. Based on his mother’s abandonment and on the basis of a failure to support the decedent. The Court found that the mother lacked the ability to support her children and thus should not be considered to have abandoned them.
These kinds of cases which turn on the support given many years before present very difficult proof problems. Even the fact that a parent was estranged from their child does not automatically establish an abandonment. As we see in this case the Surrogate looked at the circumstances of the inability to support to decide there was no abandonment.
Surrogate Sara McGinty, Surrogate’s Court
Matter of Estate of Martirano, 2014-570/B (April 12)