A Ouachita County Circuit judge has thrown out the fake will allegedly created by a Camden real estate agent to make sure her daughter received the assets of a survivor of the Deepwater Horizon explosion who later died in an auto accident.
The ruling by Circuit Judge Spencer Singleton now paves the way for Matthew Seth Jacobs’ only child to receive his late father’s estate, which was nearly $2 million thanks to a civil settlement.
“The Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the purported will ... was a forgery as that will was created using the FormSwift.com software after Mr. Jacobs’s death,” Singleton wrote.
Last month, Singleton held a hearing in the court’s probate division about the authenticity of the will, an issue raised by Jacobs’ son, Jordan Jacobs.
“My client is very happy with the outcome of the recent court proceedings,” Jacobs’ attorney, Adam D. Reid of Little Rock, told Whispers in an email. “Now that the fraudulent will has been set aside, we can continue with administration of his father’s estate.”
If you recall, Matthew Jacobs died in an auto accident at the age of 34 in January 2015. After his death, Donna Herring, a Camden real estate agent, claimed to have discovered Jacobs’ will locked in his gun safe.
The will left nearly all of Jacobs’ assets to his purported fiancée, Jordan Alexandra “Alex” Peterson, 21, Herring’s daughter. Peterson didn’t attend the hearing last month in Ouachita County.
Jordan Jacobs eventually challenged the will, which led to federal wire fraud charges against Herring, Peterson, and Herring’s sister and brother-in-law, Marion “Diane” Kinley and John Wayne Kinley Jr.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is set for Sept. 11.