Gerrard Kaonga
The groom who lost his wife on the night of their wedding after they were hit by a drunk driver is now having to fight his mother-in-law over an estate.
Aric Hutchinson and his wife Samantha Miller got married back in April in South Carolina in what should have been the happiest day of their lives.
Unfortunately, it ended in disaster.
During the celebrations, the pair had left the wedding reception on a golf cart when they were struck by an alleged drunk driver, resulting in the death of Samantha and serious injuries for Aric.
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Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, stands accused of causing the death of Samantha and has been indicted on four felony counts.
Following her tragic death, Aric assumed control of his wife’s estate. However, this decision has since been fiercely contested by his mother-in-law, Lisa Miller.
She has since filed a petition to remove him as the personal representative and argued she is being cheated out by Aric.
She has even gone as far to question the validity of the marriage, citing 'issues of potential fraud' and 'conflicts of interests'.
Speaking to the Post and Courier publication, Lisa explained her legal decisions.
“Aric and I agreed several times that Sam would want us to do everything together given we’re the two most important people in her life,” she said.
“I never wanted to challenge the validity of the marriage. I never wanted to dishonor Sam. But I feel like Aric is dishonoring my daughter in going against her wishes."
Lisa added that Aric's legal team has been sidelining her and preventing her from getting her share of the inheritance.
Jerry Meehan, Lisa’s attorney, said the main reason in her taking legal action is to ensure the protection of Samantha Miller’s estate and those it rightfully belongs to.
However, Aric’s lawyers have said her claims are legally baseless and morally questionable. Despite this, they have defended their client and insisted he has attempted to compromise.
"Aric has been more than generous with Lisa Miller — offering her half of the money — and she has repaid him by threatening to bring a frivolous challenge to the validity of his marriage to Sam,” Aric’s attorney Patrick Wooten told the newspaper.
“One would hope that Ms. Miller would have too much respect for her own daughter to do that.”
He has asked that she stops pursuing to invalidate the pair’s marriage in exchange of half of any money recovered in the wrongful death lawsuit.
“Aric has made this settlement offer not because Lisa Miller had a valid legal claim — she does not — but rather because he is a generous person and, of course, would prefer to avoid painful, public litigation over the validity of his marriage to Sam,” Wooten added.