Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

death bed marriage

my father had stage 4 cancer on/in December of 2006. On christmas he was begging to die. A day later his nurse slash girlfriend of 5 months asked if it was ok to have a marriage cermony for them. My family just felt it was a spirtual thing. couple days later she had a marriage license. total of 9 days went by and he passed. He was on morphine and phentoyl. is this legal and is there anything i can do? He wrote a will but she had him write it while he was in the hospital and under the influence. please i need some advise. she's trying to take ll that my dad worked for.


Asked on 11/16/07, 8:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Watson John Watson, Attorney at Law

Re: death bed marriage

Yes, you can do something about the will. This matter will have to be contested in probate court. You should contact the state bar of new mexico and ask for the attorney referral service and they can give you the names of attorneys in your area who practice in probate law. You can also look in the yellow pages and you will find many attorneys who practice probate law.

Another consideration might be to call the state licensing board for nurses. There may be a procedure to report this activity. Please understand, however, that if there is some way to report about the nurse activity professionally that report will not "undo" a will. You will have to start a legal action to stop the nurse from taking the property.

Contact an attorney as soon as possible to review your options.

Good luck.

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Answered on 11/16/07, 8:29 am


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