A high-profile case involving the estate of a wealthy Atlanta businesswoman is currently stalled, as other legal battles play out around it.
Diane McIver was a well-known and wealthy businesswoman from Atlanta. In the fall of 2016, she was sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle being driven by her friend. What happened next is disputed and has been the subject of considerable media speculation in Georgia.
Her husband Claude McIver was sitting in the vehicle directly behind her. He claims that he had a gun in his lap, because they were driving in a bad neighborhood. According to him, the car hit a bump in the road, which startled him and caused him to accidentally discharge the weapon killing his wife. The driver of the vehicle says the car was stopped, when she heard the gun go off.
Claude McIver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
If that was not enough to make administering the estate difficult, one of Diane McIver’s companies is suing her estate. The company claims that it loaned $1 million to one of her other companies that she personally guaranteed.
This story is reported by Private Wealth in “Estate in Limbo after Atlanta Man Is Charged with Killing His Rich Wife.”
The exact details of Diane McIver’s will are not known.
Ordinarily, her husband would be entitled to some portion of her estate. However, people who kill someone are not typically allowed to inherit from their victims. That would mean that another heir would need to be found.
Of course, depending on the results of the lawsuit filed against the estate by the company, there might be nothing left for anyone to inherit. This is especially true, if more debts are found to exist.
Regardless, this case will give the media in Georgia something to talk about for a long time.
Reference: Private Wealth (Feb. 2, 2017) “Estate in Limbo after Atlanta Man Is Charged with Killing His Rich Wife.”
