A gay Colorado
man's fight for his late partner's estate may continue,
the Colorado court of appeals ruled on Thursday. Randall Rex
has argued that a typed letter in a birthday card
given to him by his late partner qualifies as a will,
according to the Associated Press.
The court ruling
revives Rex's claim to the estate of Ronald Wiltfong,
who gave Rex the card in 2003 with a letter that said Rex
should inherit his property if anything happened to
him. It said Rex, their pets, and an aunt were his
only family and that "everyone else is dead to me."
Wiltfong died of
a heart attack in 2004, according to the AP. Margaret
Tovrea, the mother of Wiltfong's three nephews and legal
heirs if he died without a will, challenged the letter
held by Rex. A lower court ruled the will wasn't valid
because, while Wiltfong had signed the letter in the
presence of two friends, it said he hadn't also acknowledged
the letter was his will.
But the appeals
court said the law requires only that it either be
signed or acknowledged as a will and sent the case back for
reconsideration.
The case has been
seized upon by advocates of a Colorado referendum on
the November 7 ballot that would make surviving domestic
partners the presumed heirs of property just as
surviving spouses now are. Under current law, same-sex
and married couples can draw up wills stating who
should inherit their property when they die. If there is no
will or the will is found to be invalid, a surviving
spouse is presumed to be the primary, if not the sole
heir, of the property, Stan Kent, a probate lawyer in
Colorado Springs told AP.
Kent said
Referendum I would give that same presumption to surviving
domestic partners so relatives would be less likely to
challenge the validity of any wills they have. (The
Advocate)
