WPTV
Lisa Miller (left) and Mandi Jenkins discuss the heartbreak of losing their loved one on the day of her wedding.
She seems...nice?!
Posted on 12/06/2023 8:20:56 AM PST by george76
The grieving groom whose bride was killed by an accused drunk driver on their wedding night is now embroiled in a bitter fight over her estate with his mother-in-law — who is even challenging the validity of the marriage.
Aric Hutchinson had assumed control of Samantha Miller’s estate after his 34-year-old bride was killed in April when their golf cart was rear-ended as they left their wedding reception in South Carolina, leaving him also needing multiple surgeries for broken bones.
But the dead bride’s mom, Lisa Miller, has filed a petition to remove him as the personal representative, citing “issues of potential fraud” — suggesting his marriage to her daughter could be invalid..
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Aric has been more than generous with Lisa Miller — offering her half of the money — and she has repaid him by threatening to bring a frivolous challenge to the validity of his marriage to Sam
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He has offered his mother-in-law half of any recovery in the wrongful death suit on the condition that she stop pursuing legal challenges to their marriage.
“Aric has made this settlement offer not because Lisa Miller had a valid legal claim — she does not — but rather because he is a generous person and, of course, would prefer to avoid painful, public litigation over the validity of his marriage to Sam,” Wooten said.
Hutchinson and Miller were married in Folly Beach on April 28, and a Charleston County probate judge recognized the validity of their marriage on May 1 —
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The driver, Jamie Lee Komoroski, was charged with reckless vehicular homicide and three counts of felony driving under the influence.
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Under a settlement reached in October, Progressive Northern Insurance Co. and two local bars that served a tipsy Komoroski agreed to pay an undisclosed amount
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I remember this story. Naturally we don’t know all the details, but this report makes the mother out to be a total b-word.
She was robbed of the chance to be a nughtmare MIL.
Well. When this story first broke, I took the unpopular position that the road along Folly Beach is really, black dark at night. It was not smart running a golf cart down that road at night at lets say a peak of 22 mph. Any car going 40 or more would be on it in seconds. Response time would be nil. That said, without a will, in SC, the husband, if even for only hours, would be in line to inherent his wife’s property. The mother-in-law is way off base here.
As bad as this sounds, it appears the drunk save him from a life of turmoil.
IMHO, every family needs to have a frank conversation about estate/probate actions and a basic understanding of how it works and what to expect.
If this happened it may resolve some of the pettiness that we see and hear about or have experienced in our own lives when forced to deal with it.
In my case, my mother had a will and named my oldest brother and sister her executors. My oldest sister just let my brother manage it and it turned into a huge shit show with him trying to claim every dime he could by over inflating his actual expenses so the estate could pay for it. this all came to light after he sold the house and the escrow company wouldn’t release the check to him until it went to probate, which was about a year after her death.
We all trusted him and were blissfully ignorant of the laws until I saw his expense report, which all heirs get a copy of. His shady lawyer snail mailed it out, so we only had 2 weeks to contest it. I immediately called an attorney and ended up fighting him for another year & a half. By the time we were done, he ended up settling in front of the judge right before our hearing started for less than a full share. He had lied so bad and pulled other crazy shit, that had the case proceeded, the judge would have stripped him of everything. The sad part was we had all offered to pay him about 25% of the estate out of our shares but he refused to settle. After his attorney fees he ended up with about 1/16 of the estate.
I see stories like this and I am left SMDH. I get along fine with my MIL, I like her, she likes me.
How low does her battleax gauche-elevator go?
This spectacle could’ve been kept completely out of the picture.
A prospective MIL sabotaged my planned marriage. In retrospect, it likely was a moment of mercy.
How right you are!
And how many marriages (millions?) have nightmare MIL’s cost their children over the years?
That’s definitely one way to look at it.
He won the lotto, but doesn’t quite understand it. Now he needs to cut off the vapid & insufferable MIL from all funds.
I am no lawyer but I dont think the law is on the side of MIL.
When my wife died, after a 10-year cancer battle in which they only showed up on the day she died and left hours before she passed. The FIL told me point-blank, she is dead now so, no need to ever contact again. That included his grandson too.
She was robbed of the chance to be a nightmare MIL.Sounds as if she's trying to make up for it.
She seems...nice?!
Oof! I see the problem now.
Recommend reading the NY Post article at the link. It provides more details that improve understanding the actual dispute. Also provides photographs of the golf cart at the accident scene and in the evidence impound lot.
Having your bride killed is NOT winning the lotto!
I can only speak to CA, under which your analysis is correct. Mom doesn’t have a case and is stupid not to take the money.
I agree that the golf cart idea was very bad. In CA we have comparative negligence, and the jury would be called upon to assign percentages of fault. For example, if the recovery was $1 million and they determined the decedent 50% at fault, then the recovery is $500k. Given the drunk driving, though, I doubt there’s be a higher degree of fault assigned to the decedent than, perhaps 10%.. But the question is whether the defendant has any money. I’d easily value this case at $5-10
Million, but not worth the paper it’s printed on if there’s no money
I knew she looked familiar. Years ago I had looked up ‘rode hard and put away wet’ in the dictionary. THAT’S where I’d seen her!
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