A child conceived but not born when his mother married his stepfather cannot claim from his dead stepfather’s estate because he was not “living” when they wed, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The child was born in 1995, seven months after his mother married a man who was not his father.
The mother and stepfather died in a car accident in April 2000 when the child, who has special needs because of an intellectual disability, was 4 years old.
Both made wills at the time of their wedding that provided for the child’s half-brother, the mother’s son from a previous relationship, who was 10 at the time of the wedding.
The younger child was not provided for in the couple’s wills, but had a claim under the Family Protection Act out of his mother’s estate, valued at $1,800,000. Continue reading