SF Attorney Drexel A. Bradshaw Successfully Represents Gay Man Against Partner's...

Family Siblings Blocked from 'Dis-inheriting' Domestic Partner of their Gay Brother Who Died from Cancer

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/

-- In a potentially landmark case, San Francisco Attorney Drexel A. Bradshaw (http://www.bradshawassociates.com/) has won a case on behalf of a Gay man whose rights to inherit under California's Domestic Partner Law had been challenged by the family of his deceased domestic partner. The deceased man's siblings had forced their brother to execute a new trust -- cutting out his partner of 14 years -- while the man was schizophrenic, on narcotics, and in the final stages of battling cancer.  Bradshaw's successful litigation charged that the family had attempted to unlawfully overturn the man's will while he was in not in a mental state to do so.

"This case should be a warning to certain 'blood family members' that they cannot swoop in and take away what rightfully belongs to a Domestic Partner,"said Bradshaw. "Our client had been together with this man for over 14 year and had cared for and accompanied the decedent to numerous surgeries and been by his side throughout his fight with cancer."

According to Bradshaw, California's landmark Domestic Partner legislation states that upon the death of a married person, one-half of the community property belongs to the surviving spouse and the other half belongs to the decedent. Bradshaw successfully argued that registered domestic partners have the same obligations and rights under law as are granted to and imposed upon spouses and that property acquired during a marriage is the community property of both spouses.

"The family of our client's dying partner used his compromised condition to try and overturn a lawfully executive will," Bradshaw continued, having argued that the man's psychiatric disorder, weakened state, and high doses of morphine show that decedent was of unsound mind and susceptible to undue influence at the time his siblings attempted to execute a new trust which, in effect, would have dis-inherited the man's domestic partner. "During his battle with cancer, the decedent's delusions caused him to believe that he had ended his relationship with our client, which was not true, and leave the entirety of his estate to his siblings."

Media Contacts: David Perry & Associates, Inc. / David Perry

(415) 693-0583 / cell: (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

SOURCE Drexel A. Bradshaw

David Perry of David Perry & Associates, Inc., +1-415-693-0583, cell,+1-415-676-7007, news@davidperry.com, for Drexel A. Bradshaw