right to receive death benefit?

[allusedup]

What is the name of your state? Ohio (Case includes California)

My brother died from a 12-guage shotgun wound to the head. It was self-inflicted. He had just returned from Iraq on medical leave, girlfriend left him after having him put up on false charges and jailed, (admitting to lying about the charges to brother's attorney, no less.) She said she just wanted to teach him a lesson that she really wanted to leave him.
Here is this case in a nutshell: Brother was married. He and wife were separated (no physical relationship) for over 12 years (of which they did not lay eyes on one another for 10 of those years, and did not communicate verbally but twice in those 10 years.) When brother died, he had lived with this other woman for 12 years, but being still married, the wife received the death gratuity benefit of $12,500.00.
Now here is the kicker and where the question of eligability comes in. Wife had gotten together with another man and had a child with this person. She was also going by his last name, making the family and the people around them as a couple assume that they were married (we all thought, including brother's child, that they had gotten a legal divorce all those years ago, but they had not because of the military money which added to the support of the child, etc.) WE THINK WIFE AND NEW GUY WERE MARRIED IN A CEREMONY, BUT CAN'T PROVE IT-POSSIBLY IN VEGAS! WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO FIND THAT OUT AS WELL. IF THEY DID-WOULD BE AGAINST LAW, I KNOW! When brother died, wife claimed they were divorced, have the proof, blah, blah, blah, trying not to get in trouble with military. She left my brother laying on a cold slab in the morgue for two weeks (a 27 time decorated officer in the U.S. Army-twenty year veteran, spotless record) while she tried to continue to lie about the marital status, and then the military said she was nuts and passed her over and turned his funeral over to me, thank God. Anyway, army gave her the death benefit because of the marriage, but I want to know how she can get this with the two of them having been separated, by states as well, he was living in Ohio, she in California all these years, after 10 years fully being separated, and the fact that they were both committing adultery, with hers being obvious with the birth of the child with this other man.
There are so many sick and twisted turns to this story, but I could not bring myself to say them all...I need help with this money issue because the wife is to get the now made retroactive amount of $87,500.00 because the death benefit has been raised to $100,000.00. Please help me find a way to keep this from happening. If you are a legal person, I can fill you in on the other nasty details of this case and I'm sure you will not believe your ears!! Hopefully someone out there can help me!! Thank You for your comments...

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by allusedup

What is the name of your state? Ohio (Case includes California)

My brother died from a 12-guage shotgun wound to the head. It was self-inflicted. He had just returned from Iraq on medical leave, girlfriend left him after having him put up on false charges and jailed, (admitting to lying about the charges to brother's attorney, no less.) She said she just wanted to teach him a lesson that she really wanted to leave him.
Here is this case in a nutshell: Brother was married. He and wife were separated (no physical relationship) for over 12 years (of which they did not lay eyes on one another for 10 of those years, and did not communicate verbally but twice in those 10 years.) When brother died, he had lived with this other woman for 12 years, but being still married, the wife received the death gratuity benefit of $12,500.00.
Now here is the kicker and where the question of eligability comes in. Wife had gotten together with another man and had a child with this person. She was also going by his last name, making the family and the people around them as a couple assume that they were married (we all thought, including brother's child, that they had gotten a legal divorce all those years ago, but they had not because of the military money which added to the support of the child, etc.) WE THINK WIFE AND NEW GUY WERE MARRIED IN A CEREMONY, BUT CAN'T PROVE IT-POSSIBLY IN VEGAS! WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO FIND THAT OUT AS WELL. IF THEY DID-WOULD BE AGAINST LAW, I KNOW! When brother died, wife claimed they were divorced, have the proof, blah, blah, blah, trying not to get in trouble with military. She left my brother laying on a cold slab in the morgue for two weeks (a 27 time decorated officer in the U.S. Army-twenty year veteran, spotless record) while she tried to continue to lie about the marital status, and then the military said she was nuts and passed her over and turned his funeral over to me, thank God. Anyway, army gave her the death benefit because of the marriage, but I want to know how she can get this with the two of them having been separated, by states as well, he was living in Ohio, she in California all these years, after 10 years fully being separated, and the fact that they were both committing adultery, with hers being obvious with the birth of the child with this other man.
There are so many sick and twisted turns to this story, but I could not bring myself to say them all...I need help with this money issue because the wife is to get the now made retroactive amount of $87,500.00 because the death benefit has been raised to $100,000.00. Please help me find a way to keep this from happening. If you are a legal person, I can fill you in on the other nasty details of this case and I'm sure you will not believe your ears!! Hopefully someone out there can help me!! Thank You for your comments...

This is not a "do it yourself situation". This is something that requires an attorney. Go get a consult with one. I can't say that his legal wife won't get the death benefit...but I can guarantee that without an attorney you have no real hope of challenging that.