Hooters Probate Litigation
Robert H. Brooks was the chairman of Hooters restaurant when he died on July 15, 2006. Now a dispute has arisen between Mr. Brooks' widow, Tami, and the administrators of his estate (including his son, Coby, from a prior marriage). This article has the details. Among other things, the administrators are fighting Mrs. Brooks' ability to utilize "South Carolina's elective share law, which lets people take one-third of their deceased spouse's estate instead of accepting what, if anything, that spouse left to them in a will." The article is vague on the administrators' argument -- that the elective share law violates the U.S. Constitution? -- but I presume that this case is another in a long line of cases where a married couple was considering/in the process of obtaining a divorce, but one party died before the divorce was completed. The administrators "say Tami Brooks doesn't deserve the Hooters fortune because she and Robert Brooks were not 'living together as husband and wife' at the time of his death - one of the requirements Robert Brooks specified in his will before Tami Brooks could receive any money." Obviously the elective share law contains no such "living together as husband and wife" requirement.
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