Case Histories, Anecdotes, and War Stories 191
scarcely completed filling out his retirement forms when his wife
took ill, and soon thereafter passed away.
His adult children were rather surprised when he remarried
Andrea less than a year after their mother’s death, but they under-
stood he was missing companionship. This second marriage soon
clearly proved to be a mistake, however. Alvin and Andrea sepa-
rated rapidly, and Andrea moved out of state... out of sight, out
of mind.
Years passed and Alvin eventually embarked on a solid and
satisfying “live in” relationship during his retirement years. He
did not think much about his second wife Andrea until she filed
for divorce some years later. It was then Alvin discovered that in
the eyes of the law, he and Andrea still were in an economic mari-
tal partnership, regardless of the fact that they had kept separate
accounts and lived apart for years.
The parties began negotiating an out-of-court divorce settle-
ment, including appraisals, etc., in order to determine the values
of both Alvin’s and Andrea’s assets... all in order to eventually
arrive at an appropriate property settlement. During this process,
however, Alvin suffered a heart attack and died. His death auto-
matically terminated the divorce proceedings.
Alvin’s children were relieved to find out that he had long ago
amended his will, leaving nothing to Andrea—but that turned out
to be of little help. Under Hawai‘i law, a surviving spouse is auto-
matically entitled to a percentage of the deceased spouse’s assets
regardless of any “disinherit” provision contained in the will. As
Alvin’s second (and still legally married) wife, Andrea insisted
that she get her full legally entitled share of Alvin’s probate estate
as his “surviving spouse.” The executor of the estate had to sell
one of Alvin’s houses, and liquidate a significant part of Alvin’s
IRA in order to raise the necessary money to pay her off.
Lessons learned:
There may be emotional, moral, and/or religious reasons for avoid-
ing divorce, but the law does not take morality, religion, or emo-
tions into consideration. In the eyes of the law, marriage is a form of
economic partnership which can only be terminated when the par-
ties follow the formalities required to obtain a full and final divorce.