Children of cheating spouse

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satellite740

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Situation: A couple has been married for 30+ years. The husband has had another woman all these years which the wife does NOT know about. The husband has a child (at least one child is absolutely certain to be that of the cheating husband) with this other woman. Is this child of the cheating husband entitled to his father's share of the estate of the cheating husband (the child's father) and his legal wife even though the wife does not know about all this? Put simply, is this child of the cheating husband entitled of half (his father's share) of the estate of the cheating husband and his legal wife? Legal wife does NOT know about her cheating husbands outside child.
 
No, the child is not entitled to any part of the estate automatically. Does this guy and his wife have any children? If they do, then why would this illegitmate child be entitled to any half of the estate?

This child is entitled to a Social Security benefit, but to say that this child is automatcially entitled to half, when this guy likely has other kids and a wife, is a far stretch.

Does this man have a will by any chance? If he does die without one then his estate would go to probate. If the house is deeded "joint tenants with rights of survivorship" then the wife automatically get the house and anything else would probably go into probate unless there was a will. Children do not automatically get part of an estate.
 
Neither party in this situation has a will. There was one child produced from this marriage and said child died unexpectedly nearly 4 years ago.

The wife in this situation is a college graduate who basically runs the household FINANCIALLY. The husband (only a high school graduate) contributes absolutely NOTHING financially. The wife has been so mentially and verbally abused that she doesn't even realize that she is an abused wife. It's hard to get someone to "see the light" when the person doesn't even believe there is a problem.
 
Just curious, who are you in this equation?Are you the mother of this child? How do you know about this illegitamate child and she doesn't?

Has paternity been established on this child?
 
I'm a close relative of the abused wife. I know beyond question that "the husband" has at least one child with "the other woman". I was out with several people one night and ran into the husband, his brothers and a couple of women who were NOT the wives. One of the brothers (of the husband in question) had a bit too much to drink and "accidently" made a statement regarding a small kid that was playing near by saying that's "so and so's son (obviously so and so refers to the husband)" as the "husband was sitting with the "other woman". The wife was not present. PLUS....a couple of years later when the husband's mother had passed, at the repast this same woman and child was there and several people were talking about her being there.
 
Was paternity ever established? If not then the child probably has no rights, right now.

If you are a friend of the wife, then why don't you tell her?
 
A few people have tried to tell her (in a roundabout way) but apparently she won't hear what we're telling her.

My bottom line question is.....should paternity be established to confirm the child is indeed that of the cheating spouse (this would be merely a formality as certainly his family and others already know for sure), would this child be entitled to his "father's share" of an estate?

The wife is considering purchasing a house for which she will be paying without any financial help whatsoever from the husband. The husband is diabetic and does not take care of himself as far as proper nutrition, etc. We would HATE to see this wife purhase this house and should something happen to the spouse (again he's diabetic and does not take care of himself) and this child comes forth to claim his father's half of this house and the wife's financial assets (which is from her job). Louisiana is a community property state and they have been married for quite a while.
 
Paternity must be filed and done through the courts. Perhaps when this is done the wife will finally believe there is another child. Unless a court ordered DNA test is done, this is just pure speculation that this child is the husbands.

For now as long paternity is not established, the child, or mother of this child, has no rights to anything. Since this child was born outside the marriage, nobody is legally certain if the child is his. I assume he did not sign any paperwork at the birth acknolwdging paternity?
 
I often wondered if the husband was bold enough to have his name on the child's birth certificate. But once again to my main question....in a community property state such as Louisiana, and if this child IS in fact proven via DNA testing to be that of the cheating husband, would not this child be entitled to his father's share of the estate?
 
You are going to have a hard time finding this out over the internet. LA is a funny state-they are the only state practices French Civil Law, rather than English common law.

You cannot disinherit a child in LA either. So that takes care of the question of proving paternity, and then writing a will to disinherit the child.

I am afraid only a LA attorney can probably tell you for certainty.

If the husband does die before paternity is established, mon and child might be totally out of luck.
 
Here is another link. An attorney provided me with this. It appears the child,, may have up to a 25% interest in community property.

http://www.la-legal.com/successions.htm

Makes sense that a child does not get 50%, the wife is generally first in line to a majority of the assets, of community property that is.
 
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