A Miami-Dade judge has decided that those closest to late Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez will handle his estate – one that is currently being taken to court by the families of the other two victims that died on that September 2016 morning.
At a Wednesday morning hearing, Judge Maria Korvick granted a split for Fernandez's mother and his girlfriend to both be representatives.
The 24-year-old baseball star apparently left no will. In January, his mother, Maritza Gomez Fernandez, filed a petition to administer control of his estate to determine who gets his assets.
His girlfriend, Maria Arias, just gave birth to their baby girl. That child will be entitled to inherit some of his estate. The money will be held in a restricted account – meaning it can't be moved without the court's approval. Family attorneys value his worth around $2 to $3 million.
"This begins another chapter in this tragic process," said attorney Ralph Fernandez. "Everybody comments about the fact that José would've been making $300 million over a 10-year contract that was imminent and that's correct but that's not what he had."
The pitcher died in an unexpected boating wreck off Government Cut last September along with his two friends: 27-year-old Jesus Macias and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero.
His estate is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit from those victims' families. An autopsy report found cocaine in Fernandez’s system the night of the accident, but it's still not clear who was driving the boat when they crashed.
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"Every day I say how can anyone in this planet fill the void that José Fernandez left," said Ralph Fernandez.
