Judge will not declare Jennifer Dulos dead
A Farmington probate judge ruled that the individual retirement account owned by Fotis Dulos belongs to his estate, avoiding the need to declare Jennifer Dulos dead.
Attorneys representing his missing estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, and their children argued before Farmington Probate Judge Evelyn Daly in early April that the individual retirement account, which is worth $194,000, belongs to the estate of Fotis Dulos.
Daly agreed in a brief order issued Thursday.
Fotis Dulos died on Jan. 30, 2020, two days after a suicide attempt at his Farmington home. He had been charged with the kidnapping and murder of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos three weeks before. She went missing on May 24, 2019.
Police investigating the disappearance found evidence at her New Canaan home that she had been the victim of a serious assault, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Her body has never been found, but weighing evidence, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Gill determined she suffered from non-survivable injuries if she didn’t get medical treatment, the arrest warrant affidavit read.
Attorney Christopher Hug, the administrator of the estate of Fotis Dulos, couldn’t access the retirement account unless it was determined that Jennifer Dulos had predeceased her estranged husband since no beneficiary was named.
Hug had asked Daly to declare Jennifer Dulos dead based on arrest warrants served on Fotis Dulos, but the judge declined, instead seeking more concrete evidence including police testimony. Rather than hold a second hearing, Hug and attorneys representing Gloria Farber, the mother of Jennifer Dulos, the interests of Jennifer Dulos, and the Dulos children, brokered a
stipulation giving the estate the right to the funds, court filings show.
“We believe that we don’t have a right to the IRA since Jennifer predeceased Fotis,” said Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Farber.
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 papers.
The account is said to be one of the few assets that Fotis Dulos had at the time of his death. Farber, who sued Fotis Dulos in civil court over $2 million in business loans, is believed to be the estate’s largest creditor.
Weinstein has said in the past that the estate is largely insolvent and whatever his client receives will go to her five grandchildren.
Hug is suing criminal defense attorneys Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith over the $250,000 Fotis Dulos gave them to represent him in the murder case. Fotis Dulos died about 17 days after giving Pattis and Smith the money.
Hug wants a sizeable portion of the fee returned, which Pattis and Smith have declined to do, according to court papers. That case is scheduled to go to trial remotely on May 28.