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Deadbeat dad awarded share of son's estate -- briefly
Wednesday, December 6, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA -- A father who never saw much of his son or paid much child support has been awarded half of the son's estate, but he won't see much of the money.
The ruling was issued Tuesday by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Larkin in the $174,000 estate of Justin John Meyer, 21, who died three years ago.
Larkin ruled that under state law, the man's father, John Bowerman, was entitled to half the estate.
The judge also ordered, however, that back child support owed to Meyer's mother, Tweed Meyer, and to the state be deducted from Bowerman's share and that the father pay the attorney fees that Meyer's mother incurred in a lawsuit stemming from their son's death.
She sued the bar in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where Meyer was killed while intervening in a fight and obtained a $200,000 settlement, reduced to $174,000 by attorney fees and other bills.
A precise accounting of the funds due Bowerman was not immediately available.
Theresa Tilton, the mother's lawyer, asked Larkin to rule that Bowerman should not receive any share of the estate.
"Mr. Bowerman persisted for years in contempt of the court order to support his children," Tilton said. "He should not gain a windfall from his son's tragic death."
Had Meyer been a minor, Bowerman could have been barred from receiving any share of the estate, but his death as an adult ruled out such an exception, Larkin ruled.
"When this is over, I intend to send a letter to our people in Olympia (the state capital) letting them know there is a gaping hole in our law," the judge said.
Bowerman listened to the court proceedings via telephone from his home in California. His lawyer, Clayton Dickinson, said he would ask Larkin to reconsider his decision on child support and attorney fees.
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