ATTORNEY: NO NEED TO DECLARE LEGAL DEATH
Probate judge would avoid hearing under new agreement to settle Fotis Dulos’ estate
A new agreement filed by the family of Jennifer Farber Dulos would allow a Farmington probate judge to avoid a thorny hearing over whether the missing New Canaan mother should be declared legally dead to settle the estate of her late husband Fotis Dulos.
Judge Evelyn Davis had planned to hear testimony from state police and the medical examiner at an upcoming hearing before deciding whether to take the unprecedented step of declaring Farber Dulos dead more than five years before state statutes say she should so that Dulos’ estate could access funds in one of his remaining retirement accounts.
Instead, Farber Dulos’ five children and her mother Gloria Farber would waive their interest in the $195,000 in that retirement account under the terms of the agreement to avoid the high-profile hearing that would further stress the young children who have lost both of their parents, attorney Peter Jay Alter, Farber Dulos’ court-appointed representative for the proceedings, wrote in a recent court filing.
“Having considered the best interests of Jennifer Farber Dulos, and what she would consider to be the best interests of her children, who were of paramount importance to her, ... the unfortunate publicity and stress that would be imposed on her children if the Court requires extensive evidence to be given to determine if Jennifer Farber Dulos did in fact predecease her late husband” led the family to agree to waive their interest in the account, Alter wrote.
Attorney Christopher Hug, who is representing Fotis Dulos’ estate, also agreed and asked Davis to grant an order approving the signed agreements, thereby negating the need for a hearing on Farber Dulos’ death, court records show.
Farber Dulos has been missing since late May 2019 and is presumed dead by both her family and state police detectives, although her remains have never been found.
She was in the midst of a bitter divorce at the time with Dulos, whom police ultimately charged with her murder in early 2020. But he died several weeks later
after attempting to kill himself before a court hearing in that case.
Already contentious probate proceedings over Fotis Dulos’ estate hit a snag last year when attorneys discovered Dulos had no will or beneficiary for his estate, and because he and Farber Dulos were still legally married at the time of his death, Farber Dulos became the beneficiary by default. And because Farber Dulos’ remains have