I have not had the opportunity to sit in on court hearings in the Gloucester County Circuit Court in a few weeks. My own case has taken such a dramatic turn, I am busy dealing with it. However, I can note from this experience, that the craziness extends beyond the local courthouse.. in fact, my most recent experiences are from the small town of Woodruff, South Carolina.
When my husband, the one I was in the process of divorcing, passed away last month, his family decided it was appropriate to name the mother as next of kin and to proceed through funeral and burial without notifying me. While it is true we were in the process of divorce, it is not true, as they indicated to the coroner's investigator who worked the case, that we were divorced. Therefore, in the eyes of both the Commonwealth of Virginia, in which we last lived as husband and wife, and the state of South Carolina where we were married and where he passed away, since we are not divorced, we were still married at the time of death and the surviving spouse is the next of kin. Simple, right?
Well, to the contrary. When, six days after his death and three days after his burial, my attorney informed me of his being notified of my husband's passing, I contacted the Spartanburg, SC coroner's office to get information. I learned that the death certificate is pending toxicology report and such. I was also told by the investigator that I would need to get a document from the court that states we were still married at the time of his death, or the coroner would have no way to change the stated next of kin.
That sounded a little odd to me, but I went to my Gloucester County Clerk of the Court and inquired about getting such a document. She looked confused and indicated there was no such thing to be provided...unless we are divorced, in which case there would have been a divorce decree, the only thing the court could provide is my marriage certificate...which, by the way, is already available to the folks in SC as that is where we were married. She suggested I confer with my attorney to see whether he could provide something to satisfy the SC coroner's investigator.
My attorney suggested the best move would be for me to send the letter I had already penned to the coroner's office. In the letter, I gave my attorney's contact information. I sent the letter via certified mail, and sure enough, within a week, I received a certified mail response from the investigator...he wanted what he'd requested in the first place, a statement from the court... not from me. He noted that he would communicate with my attorney, since I had provided that information.
So followed another meeting with my attorney, who, I might add, was completely unimpressed with the SC coroner's investigator. Seems my attorney called the guy and spent an extended amount of time going through my file to find SOMETHING this guy would accept... in the end, it was a single line at the end of the Pendente Lite order that the investigator indicated would suffice for his needs... the line stated as follows:
" and this matter is continued upon the docket of the Court."
No, seriously, this is the necessary information this guy needed... why? Because, he told my attorney, they have so many cases of people fraudulently CLAIMING to be next of kin.... Really? You mean, like my husband's mother, whom, I am certain this investigator is not challenging to provide PROOF of her claim as next of kin? Actually, in all seriousness, this sounds like an investigator who made a mistake, overstepped his bounds and is now costing me money, time and stress to correct his error.
I have yet to be notified by the coroner or his investigator that the correction has been made, but will be following up with phone call and written inquiry next week.
And so, I might yet end up seeing the inside of the Woodruff Court ... time will tell.
