More on Florida Man’s Adoption of His Girlfriend

As I previously blogged, John Goodman adopted his girlfriend after being accused of vehicular homicide. As his child, Goodman’s girlfriend is entitled to one-third of a trust settled by Goodman years ago that is now worth several hundred million dollars. Many have criticized Goodman’s adoption of his girlfriend, claiming the adoption is a ploy to protect his assets from the victim’s family.

However, the judge in Goodman’s civil suit has already ruled that the family of the young man killed by Goodman will have no access to the trust money because Goodman has no control of the trust and cannot benefit from its assets.  After Goodman created the trust, naming his children as beneficiaries, he turned the trust’s management over to Bessemer Trust Company and it became the trustee. Goodman claims that Bessemer is not handling the assets correctly so he adopted his girlfriend to safeguard his children’s interests. Goodman’s girlfriend, as Goodman’s child has the right to monitor and challenge Bessemer’s actions. She will receive 5% of the trust assets and a salary.

See Danielle and Andy Mayoras, Can Florida Millionaire Justify Adopting His Girlfriend?, Forbes, Feb. 6, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.