Roamer
02-27-2008, 05:43 AM
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=4349399
Melinda Williams will not inherit the money from Faheem Williams because she abused and neglected him and his two brothers, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey found in a 3-0 decision that upheld a lower court ruling.
Melinda Williams had sought Faheem's $1 million share of a $7.5 million settlement paid by New Jersey in 2006 amid charges of failures by its Division of Youth and Family Services. Instead, all the money will go to care for the surviving boys, who are in foster care.
The brothers -- Faheem's twin Raheem Williams, and 4-year-old Tyrone Hill Jr. -- were found starving and clad in clothes soaked in urine and feces in a locked room adjacent to where the corpse was found.
Melinda Williams had entrusted the three boys to a cousin, Sherry L. Murphy, so she could serve a jail term. She was freed and living in New York when Faheem died after being injured by Murphy's teenage son.
Authorities never charged Melinda Williams with mistreating her children, but records show she repeatedly ignored agreements with DYFS to improve her parenting. The surviving boys also told caseworkers that Melinda Williams abused them, including by burning them with cigarettes.
"How cruel, ironic, and inequitable it would be to hold that M.W. retained the right to inherit $1 million from the child she burned, abused, neglected, and abandoned," Appellate Judge Donald G. Collester wrote for the court. "Equity, morality, and common sense dictate that physically or sexually abusive parents have no right of inheritance ..."
The appellate court also upheld a 2006 ruling terminating Williams' parental rights to all three children.
A lawyer for Melinda Williams did not return a message seeking comment.
A spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, Lee Moore, said, "The decision was a just and fair outcome for the children."
Melinda Williams will not inherit the money from Faheem Williams because she abused and neglected him and his two brothers, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey found in a 3-0 decision that upheld a lower court ruling.
Melinda Williams had sought Faheem's $1 million share of a $7.5 million settlement paid by New Jersey in 2006 amid charges of failures by its Division of Youth and Family Services. Instead, all the money will go to care for the surviving boys, who are in foster care.
The brothers -- Faheem's twin Raheem Williams, and 4-year-old Tyrone Hill Jr. -- were found starving and clad in clothes soaked in urine and feces in a locked room adjacent to where the corpse was found.
Melinda Williams had entrusted the three boys to a cousin, Sherry L. Murphy, so she could serve a jail term. She was freed and living in New York when Faheem died after being injured by Murphy's teenage son.
Authorities never charged Melinda Williams with mistreating her children, but records show she repeatedly ignored agreements with DYFS to improve her parenting. The surviving boys also told caseworkers that Melinda Williams abused them, including by burning them with cigarettes.
"How cruel, ironic, and inequitable it would be to hold that M.W. retained the right to inherit $1 million from the child she burned, abused, neglected, and abandoned," Appellate Judge Donald G. Collester wrote for the court. "Equity, morality, and common sense dictate that physically or sexually abusive parents have no right of inheritance ..."
The appellate court also upheld a 2006 ruling terminating Williams' parental rights to all three children.
A lawyer for Melinda Williams did not return a message seeking comment.
A spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, Lee Moore, said, "The decision was a just and fair outcome for the children."