A 19 year old Wisconsin man murdered a Milwaukee area businessman in 1971.  After being sentenced to life in prison, he escaped prison in 1978, assumed the name of deceased child, established a trouble free life in Florida as a businessman himself, and eventually married in 1996.  Only when his wife pestered him for his birth certificate so he could obtain a passport did his life unravel and  she filed for divorce.  He committed suicide in 2011 five days after being asked to testify under oath about his real name.  The family of his murder victim recently filed suit to re-open his estate so they could file a claim against the estate because the estate did not publish a notice of his death in a Wisconsin paper.

Several points:

1.  Unless there was a wrongful death lawsuit and judgment, I am not sure what claim the victim’s family has against the estate 40 years after the murder.

2.  Ohio requires creditors to file a claim against an estate within six months of the date of death without exception.

3.  Ohio does not require publication of any notice for estate creditors.

4.  Florida does require publication of notice for creditors but only in the county of the decedent’s residence, not in other counties and presumably not in other states, including Wisconsin.

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