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NER Moral Question (Lipstick Jungle spoilers)
Hopefully non-Lipstick Jungle watchers will peak in here as well...mainly because I think I might be the only one on here.
Basically, last night was the first episode of the second season. one of the main characters, Nico, had an affair last season with this young photographer she met at a party. She was always pretty morally conflicted about it and ended it when her husband had a heart attack.
This episode, a few months later, she's trying to fix her marriage, looking for things to add some spice back in. Eventually she confesses her affair to clear the air, and he denies any wrong doing (a grad school professor, 20-something coeds often send him notes and such). Shortly thereafter he learns he needs bypass surgery, and during the surgery Nico runs into one of his students who reveals that Nico's husband chose her...then reveals that she's pregnant.
Nico then runs home, unlocks her husband's desk, and discovers that he's been building an abandonement case against her so that she would have to pay alimony and had been with his student for years, paying for a love nest, etc. (In New York divorce, for abandonement, I believe there has to be proof for at least 1 full year).
Anyway, after the surgery, he flatlined and died.
In the previews for the next episode, we see the mistress confront Nico about money. Here's this pregnant grad student whose lover (and meal ticket) just died. Nico's the breadwinner as magazine execs make considerably more than college professors.
Is the grad student legally entitled to anything? What about the fetus?
Clearly the widow of the adulterous husband doesn't legally owe anything to her deceased husband's mistress and soon-to-be baby mama, but is said soon-to-be baby due any part of the inheritance? Social security survivor's benefits?
Re: NER Moral Question (Lipstick Jungle spoilers)
No, she's not entitled to anything except a slap in the face.
The child may be legally entitled to some money from the husband's estate, but nothing from the wife. I would insist on a DNA test, and I would also insist that any money be put into a managed trust for the child.
Yeah, clearly Nico is not going to pay the girl, but assuming they don't have wills (just for the sake of discussion - these characters would most likely have wills), would his unborn child be entitled to anything?
No, right? Because you can't make a child a beneficiary until s/he is born. Should unborn children be allowed to be named beneficiaries?
In Minnesota, the fetus may be legally entitled to something if he can be proved to be the father and adjudicated so in a subsequent court proceeding. We have ample case law on this. The issue is getting a court to agree that it's in the child's best interest to be determined if this guy is the father so he or she may inherit.
The grad student isn't entitled to anything unless he had a will and left her anything. Unless NY has some sort of "baby mama" inheritance rules.
But wouldn't everything go to the wife before any children??
I imagine it would go into a trust. But how does one create a trust for a being that doesn't have a name or SSN yet?
Sign we are truly nerds...
But really my mind is just boggled because the mistress says something about 'doing the right thing' and while on one hand it is sad for a pregnant student with no income to have nothing, I don't see how the widow has any obligation whatsoever. How could the girl feasibly think the widow of her deceased lover owes her anything?
Assuming he died intestate - not necessarily. It depends on state law. In some states, if you die intestate, your in-laws are able to take an intestate share of your estate. Thankfully, I do not live in such a state, as I think those laws are ridiculous.
Yeah, exactly. She knew what she was doing, and (my inner conservative coming out) that's what jobs are for, sorry. You shouldn't have been counting on a man (married to someone else, no less) to take care of you in the first place.
What's especially rich is that the man she was relying on was quasi-dependent on his wife in the first place! Hence the need to build an abandonement case against her before divorcing her in order to secure alimony.
Is CT one of those states, by any chance? I think we are......