Judge Orders Trust Set Up For Marlins Fernandez's Daughter
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The daughter of the late Miami Marlins pitching ace Jose Fernandez will be well taken care of.
On Wednesday a judge ordered that a trust be established for the child and that it be overseen by her mother, Fernandez's girlfriend Maria Arias, and the child's grandmother - Fernandez's mother.
Fernandez, along with two other men, were killed in a boating crashing in September 2016. Arias gave birth to their daughter on February 24th, 2017.
Miami-Dade Judge Maria Korvick ruled that the money in the account could be drawn for her care.
Attorney Ralph Fernandez, who represents the family's interests, said estimates of Fernandez's worth have been wildly overstated.
"Everybody comments that Jose would've been making $300 million over a 10-year contract that was imminent. That's correct, but that's not what he had," Fernandez said.
Fernandez's mother petitioned to take over the Marlins star's estate in January. It's was valued between $2 million and $3 million.
That amount may decrease, however, depending on the outcome of a pair of lawsuits. The parents of the two men killed when Fernandez's boat crashed near Government Cut have sued his estate for $2 million each.
Fernandez said they plan to fight this.
"The reason is this, it's our position that everything in the estate is for the benefit of the child," Fernandez said.
The families of Jesus Macias, 27, and Eduardo Rivero, 25, have filed personal injury and negligence lawsuits in their deaths.
At the time of the crash, all three men had been drinking but only Fernandez was over the legal limit. He and Rivero also had cocaine in their system, according to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office report.
Questions still remain, however, over who was driving the boat.
