Surprise, I’m your wife
I live in Brazil, and my fiancée is an assistant to the judge. She was telling me [about] this case, and it made me really, really sad. Some dude was driving a truck that was over weight capacity and poorly maintained.
[The] truck malfunctioned somehow, he crashed, went into a coma.
Dude woke up a couple days later in the hospital and found an ex-girlfriend by his side. She said she’d heard about the accident, and that she was there to take care of him.
Dude was in the hospital for a really long time, and wasn’t quite himself in the first couple of weeks — not sure if due to drugs or due to some injury from the accident.
Since he was restrained to the hospital, someone had to take care of his business. He had to apply for ‘paid disease absence’ with the INSS (which is the equivalent to U.S.
social security) amongst other things. So, he gave his ex power of attorney.
She took care of all those things for him. She even got an actual attorney to sue the truck owner (his employer) on his behalf. Dude got stuck in a wheelchair after the accident.
When he left the hospital, they parted ways on good terms. Then he found some girl, fell in love [and they] moved in together. A year later, his lawsuit ended, he won a small amount as restitution (US$30,000, Brazil doesn’t have punitive damages) plus a lifetime pension.
Not a week later, he was surprised by divorce papers.
The ex-girlfriend that took care of him used her power of attorney to marry him without his knowledge. She heard he had won the lawsuit and asked for half the restitution and half his lifetime pension.
The marriage had been conceived under obviously fraudulent means, and thus would be easily voided. Had the dude’s lawyer realized that and requested the marriage to be voided. He didn’t and the judge is forbidden by law to grant something that wasn’t requested.
So, the marriage remained valid, which means she was entitled to half his earnings.
| Anonymous