Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 36, Ed. 1 Friday, January 22, 2010 Page: 12 of 36
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started talking about making a will. But I didn't
want to talk about it," Gina said. "It worried me
to hear her talking about it. I was worried that in
her depression she might be contemplating some-
thing else, that she might try to hurt herself. So I
didn't want to talk about a will or think about it."
Then on Oct. 6, Michelle suffered a rupture in
her stomach that caused a massive bleed. She died
in the house. What caused the rupture, Gina said,
is still undetermined.
Within hours, she said, Michelle's mother
began trying to assert her ownership of the house
and its contents.
"She didn't come out and say it, but little things
she said, the way she touched things in the house,
questions she asked — I started to just get a feel-
ing about it," Gina said. "I paid all the funeral ex-
penses, They [Michelle's mother and brother]
offered to help with the expenses, but I said no.
First, because I knew Michelle wouldn't have
wanted that. But also because it felt funny, like
they were trying to get into our business and find
out what we had."
But then Michelle's mother made it clear she in-
tended to claim the house for her own. And
legally, McCall said, it is.
According to the law, he explained, if a person
dies without a will, the first person in line as an
heir is the deceased's legal spouse. If there is no
legal spouse, then the person's property goes to
their children.
If there are no children, then the estate falls to
the deceased's two living parents. If there-is only
one living parent, the estate is divided between
that parent and any living siblings. If there are no
living parents, it goes to the siblings.
So the law in this case is, at least on the surface,
on the side of Michelle's family.
"In some cases when it comes to a same-sex
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couple and thereis no will, the family [of the de-
ceased] is cooperative and signs a waiver. But in
other cases, like this one, they think their child or
sibling died with money or property that's worth
a lot of money, and they think, 'There's gotta be a
big piece of the pie for me,"' McCall said.
In this case, McCall said, he has found a legal
precedent in a case out of Fort Worth that says
when a "legal stranger"—someone with no legal
relationship to the deceased — has contributed in
paying a mortgage and household expenses, that
person is legally entitled to compensation.
"With that precedent, I'd say worse case is lean
get Gina some money out of the house/' McCall
said.
That doesn't mean Gina and her attorney are
giving up. They are, they said, moving ahead and
examining every avenue possible to help her keep
her home,
Still, McCall said, the court battle probably
wouldn't have been necessary at all if Michelle
had had a will.
"We have a lot of hurdles ahead of us," McCall
said. "It would have been so much easier if
Michelle had left a will leaving everything to
Gina. That wouldn't have meant her family
couldn't have contested the will. But it would
have made things a lot easier and more certain for
Gina."
Gina said she decided to share her story in
hopes that other same-sex couples might be
prompted to get their affairs in legal order and
avoid finding themselves in similar straits when
it is too late.
McCall agreed. "A lot of people don't want to
think about things like making a will. It seems de-
pressing to them, and they feel like if they don't
talk about it, if they just don't deal with it, then it
pushes death away. But everybody will die some
day, whether they've taken care of things or not,"
he said.
At a bare minimum, McCall said, same-sex
couples should at least download a form from the
Internet, carefully fill it out and have it notarized
before witnesses. But Gina urged couples not to
be satisfied with that.
"I say everyone should go to a lawyer. All the
language needs to be correct. There are so many
questions you need to ask and get answered. It
costs more, yes, but it's worth it. It would cost you
even more in the long run if it isn't done right,"
she said.
And, she added, don't just rely on a good rela-
tionship now with your family or your partner's
family to protect you in the event the worst
should happen.
*1 just can't wrap my mind around the fact that
she [Michelle's mother] is trying to do to me what
she wanted to protect her daughter from, what I
helped protect her daughter from," Gina said.
"We always got along well, better than even she
and Michelle got along sometimes. We never ex-
changed harsh words.
"I know that Michelle would be wildly upset
by what's happening. She would never want me
pu t out of our house so her mother could have it,"
Gina continued. "But we didn't take care of things
when we should have, so that may be what hap-
pens now." ■
12 dallasvoice.com
01.22.10
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 36, Ed. 1 Friday, January 22, 2010, newspaper, January 22, 2010; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239100/m1/12/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.