S-18-0283 In re Estate of Mark A. Helms
County Court of Butler County, Hon. C. Jo Peterson
Attorneys: Lindsay E. Pedersen (Katherine R. Hall, Attorney at Law, P.C., L.L.O.) for Appellant Christopher Helms, Personal Representative of the Estate --- Gregory M. Neuhaus & Joseph D. Neuhaus (Neuhaus Law Offices) for Appellees Gregory L. Turek, Pamela A. Joekel, and Debra S. Michel
Probate: Distribution of estate assets.
Proceedings Below: The trial court granted Appellees’ motion for summary judgment and distributed assets of the estate which were obtained as a result of a federal wrongful death judgment. The trial court found there was no genuine issue of material fact that said proceeds should be equally distributed to the decedent’s heirs as existed at the time of his death, which were his parents. The trial court ordered the Personal Representative to distribute one half of the judgment proceeds to the estate of the decedent’s mother, Mary Ann Turek, who was alive at the time of the decedent’s death, and the other half to the decedent’s father, Marvin Helms.
Issue: Whether the court erred in granting Appellees’ motion for summary judgment regarding the distribution of wrongful death proceeds.