Homosexual Spouse Entitled to Inherit Estate
A couple of months ago I wrote about the Insurance Department’s interpretation of Gov. Paterson’s directive to New York State agencies that same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions must be recognized in New York. And so, for example, joint and survivor life insurance, and spousal discounts on long term care contracts, need to now become part of an advisor’s toolbox of planning techniques for their clients.
Add to that a ruling which came down yesterday from Surrogate Glen out of New York County, wherein Surrogate Glen ruled that a surviving homosexual spouse of a decedent was the decedent’s only “distributee” under New York law. The decedent died leaving his surviving same-sex spouse (they were married in Canada), and three brothers. For the past 2,000 years, the brothers would be the decedent’s distributees and entitled to inherit the decedent’s estate. Now, the brothers are all out, and the surviving spouse inherits the decedent’s estate. The case is Estate of Ranftle, and the decision is reprinted in the New York Law Journal of Tuesday, February 2, 2009 on page 27.
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Not Again! Court Blasts First Unum for Culpable Conduct in Denying LTD Benefits; Awards Attorney’s Fees
On facts remarkably similar to the McCauley decision discussed in my last post, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit again blasted First Unum for culpable conduct in a long term disability denial case, once again where LTD benefits were denied to an attorney. In this case, Slupinski v. First Unum decided on January 23, 2009 and published in the New York Law Journal on January 30, 2009 (page 29), attorney Zbigniew Slupinski was hurt in an auto accident while on assignment in Poland for his employer, the Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP law firm. The medical evidence supporting Slupinski’s inability to work was “overwhelming,” yet First Unum denied the claim, again, as in McCauley, ignoring almost all of the medical evidence pointing to disability, while favoring its in-house doctor’s opinion (who had never examined, Mr. Slupinksi, by the way), that the attorney could return to work.
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