News reporters, law enforcement agents, attorneys and public spectators overflowed the Nassau County Surrogate’s Court last month to witness the fate of Leatrice Brewer’s (Brewer) claim to her children’s estates. Brewer brutally murdered her three innocent children and then sought to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from their estates.
On March 7, 2012, the Nassau County Supreme Court issued an order that directed the wrongful death proceeds of two of Brewer’s children to be held in escrow until the Surrogate’s Court issued a decree to distribute the same. Thus, the Surrogate’s Court had to compromise the wrongful death order by first ascertaining who the distributees are, which included Brewer, the children’s fathers, the children’s siblings, grandparents and unknown heirs. Then the court could decide who would be qualified to take the net proceeds of the settlement, pursuant to the applicable statutes and case law.
