Love and marriage, as they say, don’t always go together like a horse and carriage. A California appellate court judge found a troubling set of circumstances surrounding the marriage between a licensed California attorney and her late, elderly client. The attorney, Linda Lowney, is now being investigated by the State Bar to determine what, if any, advantage she may have taken of the client leading up to his death.
According to The Recorder, Justice Robert Dondero of San Francisco’s 1st District Court of Appeal wrote an unpublished ruling indicating there was enough suspicion that Lowney may have taken advantage of her client to secure a portion of his estate for herself and ordered an investigation of the attorney. Justice Dondero specifically stated that the attorney “knowingly made a false representation on a recorded instrument” which provided the court with some inference that the attorney may have acted improperly.
The heirs of the now deceased elderly man contend that the attorney improperly entered into a “confidential marriage” with the man just a few months prior to his death and convinced him to provide her access to an account valued around $350,000. In California a “confidential marriage” can only be granted if the couple seeking the marriage license are cohabitating prior to their application. The attorney claimed to have been living with the man at the time they applied for the marriage license but did not dispute the heirs claim that in fact they never lived together.
The attorney continues to dispute that the marriage was based upon anything other than love and affection. She stands by her claims that the marriage was entered into voluntarily by both parties and that she is in fact “a very truthful person”. The attorney indicated that the confidentiality was only desired to keep it from her college age daughter who might object. The case rolls on as Lowney appeals the California Courts’ decisions that the marriage is invalid. We must wait to see if ultimately the song rings true and the courts separate the love and marriage, coming to the conclusion that this marriage was an illusion.
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