Posted on 08/02/2006 10:39:35 AM PDT by Coleus
The father of a disabled woman who died last year is entitled to half her estate even though he had little contact with her during her life, a state judge ruled yesterday. Ruben Martinez of Staten Island will receive about $400,000 of the $1.1 million remaining in a trust established for the care of his daughter, Jennifer Rogiers, who was born with severe disabilities caused by spinal cord injury suffered during her breech birth in 1983.
The girl's mother, Rosa Rogiers of Weehawken, also received $400,000 and an additional $300,000 to compensate her for the years of care she provided her daughter. The money comes from a 1989 malpractice settlement. Jennifer Rogiers died at the age of 22. In granting Martinez the money, Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Olivieri dismissed claims by Rogiers that her former boyfriend -- the couple never married -- should get nothing because he was not involved in his daughter's upbringing and paid no child support.
After Olivieri left the Jersey City courtroom, Rogiers turned to Martinez and glared at him for several moments. "Enjoy the money," she said. "You know, there's a God up there and you're going to pay." Martinez called Rogiers a liar, before his attorney ushered him from the courtoom. In court papers, Martinez said he visited his daughter several times a year and Rogiers prevented him from spending more time with her. He also said Rogiers repeatedly resisted his offers of financial help.
"I was there for my daughter," Martinez said outside the courtroom. "These are lies." In issuing his ruling, Olivieri said the argument over Martinez's emotional ties to his daughter mattered little in the eyes of the law. Under New Jersey law, he said, biological parents retain parental rights regardless of how
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Moral of the story: Get a Will. >>>
how can a severely disabled child write a will?
Actually, I think it's only in recent years that we have gotten paranoid enough to try to think of every eventuality, and then try to cover our behinds before the worst happens.
There is no vaccine against stupidity and you are the obvious.
You must read what transpired between the two parties but it's obvious words fail you. There are laws put in place and if a child dies w/out a will and the parents are alive, the judge must render decision based on law. She terminated her rights for child support but words fail you.
He probably didn't even ask for the money, the estate attorney had to contact the parents.
Next time don't be so critical and get your facts. Maybe someone should come up with a vaccine for your actions.
You figured wrong.
What is really going on here about her morals. He was brought to court by the daughter's attorney and this is how he got involved.
The court papers say that she left the guy with the rent money and the child and he became homeless.
She had ulterior motives. Don't tell the father that the child received an inheritance, and I won't let him near his daughter, and then everyone will think he is dead and the mom will get all the money. Oh yeah, the mom isn't bitter with her own schemes in hand.
Who is going to stick up for the parent that suffered a greater loss not having the opportunity to commit himself to his daughter because the mother opposed his visitation and disregarded and tossed all his gifts to his daughter in the garbage?
What is there to worry about this man getting $400,000.00 when he was kept from visiting his ill daughter. No money will ever bring his daughter back. You need to worry about your being critical of people.
If the mother wanted her child to have a will, it could have been established legally but I'm sure the lawyer would have needed both parents present if the mother wanted to protect the child assets. But it seems she didn't want anyone to know about the father until the day of the funeral.
Your post #47 may have been intended for someone else.
I wrote that the govt. will get most of the man's money. I don't have much of an opinion on who should get the money. I can be too critical/cynical at times, so if the post was intended for me I gratefully accept it.
If you read the court papers, he wrote "I loved Rosa". The mother abandoned the father. He became homeless after she emptied the house and took the rent money after living together for 3 years. The father wanted to support the child. She terminated her child support rights in 1991 when she did not want to receive child support. It turned out the father didn't know about a settlement amount until he was introduced to his daughter's estate attorney by a mutual friend, and the estate attorney never knew that Jennifer's father was alive.
You are a deplorable human being. This man loved his daughter. The mother of the daughter made his life miserable dictating to him when and where he could visit his child. The mother raped the father of his paternal rights in establishing a loving relationship between a father and daughter.
Remember the old prophecy: Take the plank out of your own eye before the speck out of your neighbors.
Everything comes in full circle.
If you read the court papers, he wrote "I loved Rosa". The mother abandoned the father. He became homeless after she emptied the house and took the rent money after living together for 3 years. The father wanted to support the child. She terminated her child support rights in 1991 when she did not want to receive child support. It turned out the father didn't know about a settlement amount until he was introduced to his daughter's estate attorney by a mutual friend, and the estate attorney never knew that Jennifer's father was alive.
You are a deplorable human being. This man loved his daughter. The mother of the daughter made his life miserable dictating to him when and where he could visit his child. The mother raped the father of his paternal rights in establishing a loving relationship between a father and daughter.
Remember the old prophecy: Take the plank out of your own eye before the speck out of your neighbors.
Everything comes in full circle.
Yes, this was his child. He brought her to court for child support but she refused assistance back in 1991. There was never an order issued by a judge so how can you ask for child support legally if you didn't request such support in the first place! She had ulterior motives that got exposed in the end!
Victory for the lawyers maybe
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