N.Y. Paternity Case Could Split $100-Million Italy Donation
April 19, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
A paternity case in New York courts could affect a $100-million bequest to an Italian university, The New York Times writes.
Nina Viola Montepagani, the daughter of Italian immigrants who settled in Brooklyn, has sued to change the identity of her father on her birth certificate. Citing old letters and family history, she claims her true father is Sebastiano Raeli, with whom she says her mother had a relationship before sailing to America to join Giuseppe Viola, her then-husband, eight months before Ms. Montepagani was born.
Dr. Raeli, who died a few years ago without any acknowledged children, left a fortune estimated at $100-million at Rome’s Tor Vergata University.
Under Italian law, children can claim up to half their parents’ estates regardless of wills, but courts in Italy have denied Ms. Montepagani’s legal claim to a share because her birth certificate lists Giuseppe Viola as her father.
