Attorney: Fotis Dulos home sells for $1.85 million
FARMINGTON — Fotis Dulos’ former home — a focal point during the police investigation into his estranged wife’s disappearance and where he attempted suicide last January — has been sold.
The 10,000-square-foot home built by Fotis Dulos on the private Jefferson Crossing road developed by his company has sold for $1.85 million. The home had been listed for $1.75 million.
Attorney Richard Weinstein, who represents Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, said the money will go to his client, who foreclosed on the property.
“Eventually, it will go to the children,” Weinstein said.
As of Monday, the property was still listed as being owned by Farber's trust, according to the Farmington assessor's office and land records filed with the Farmington Town Clerk.
Farber has been caring for the five Dulos children since their mother vanished in May 2019. Jennifer Dulos has never been found, but the state’s chief medical examiner said she would not have survived the attack in the garage of her New Canaan home without immediate medical attention, according to arrest warrants in the case.
Fotis Dulos died from a suicide in January 2020 while facing murder, kidnapping and other charges in the case.
Attorneys have agreed to allow Fotis Dulos’ estate to access his $194,000 individual retirement account without a judge declaring his estranged wife dead.
“From our viewpoint, it’s largely an academic issue,” Weinstein said. “We have every reason to believe she is dead, that she predeceased him and the money belongs to his estate.”
Attorney Christopher Hug, the administrator of Fotis Dulos’ estate, has not been allowed to access the IRA unless it is determined that Jennifer Dulos predeceased her estranged husband since no beneficiary was named.
Hug had asked Farmington Probate Court Judge Evelyn Daly to declare Jennifer Dulos dead based on arrest warrants in the 50-year-old mother’s disappearance. But Daly declined, instead seeking more evidence, including police testimony. Rather than stage a second hearing, Hug and attorneys representing Farber and the interests of Jennifer Dulos reached an agreement that granted the estate the right to the funds, court documents said.
“We believe that we don’t have a right to the IRA since Jennifer predeceased Fotis,” Weinstein said.
The best interests of her children were paramount to Jennifer Dulos, said Peter Jay Alter, the guardian ad litem assigned to represent Jennifer Dulos in probate court proceedings.
“Further considering 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, the undersigned on behalf of Jennifer Farber Dulos and acting in her best interests, irrevocably waives any interest in the IRA,” Alter said in court documents.
Daly is expected to announce whether she will accept the terms of the stipulation in the coming weeks.
However, Fotis Dulos’ estate is still long from being settled. There is also the issue of the $250,000 Fotis Dulos gave his criminal defense attorneys, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, to represent him in the murder case weeks before he died.
Hug and the trustee handling the financial affairs between Farber and Fotis Dulos are suing Pattis and Smith on the grounds they represented their client for only three weeks after receiving the money.
That case is scheduled to go to trial remotely on May 28.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen around 8 a.m. May 24, 2019 after dropping off her five children at school, arrest warrants state. Police said they believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” for his estranged wife to return to her New Canaan home, where he attacked her in the garage, arrest warrants state.
Around the time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing, Fotis Dulos and his former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were seen on surveillance video in Hartford’s North End, arrest warrants state. The video showed Fotis Dulos dumping bags that were later determined to contain his estranged wife’s blood and clothing, according to the arrest warrants.
Troconis and Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend and former attorney for Fotis Dulos, have each pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Troconis has also pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.