Law.com reported on an interesting issue in Abandonment at Issue in Family’s Feud Over Distribution of 9/11-Related Funds regarding the rights of a surviving parent that abandoned a pre-deceased child. I’d be interested if anyone has seen similar Florida law on this point. Here is an excerpt from the linked-to story:
A judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday heard testimony in a case that pits the mother of a man who died in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center against her former husband, who wants half of their son’s $2.9 million award from the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Brooklyn Surrogate Margarita Lopez Torres held a daylong hearing that included testimony from the mother, Elsie Goss-Caldwell; the father, Leon Caldwell; their eldest son, Leon Jr.; and family friends.
The case might turn on Lopez Torres’ interpretation of Estates, Powers and Trusts Law §4-1.4(a), which precludes the distribution of a deceased child’s estate to a partner who has refused to provide for, or abandoned, a child before the child reached age 21.