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Judge to Hear Evidence in Fallen Texas Captain’s Benefits Trial
Houston Chronicle
Reprinted with Permission
WHARTON — A judge today agreed to temporarily bar the allegedly transgendered widow of a Wharton firefighter from spending or collecting his death benefits.
Related
Debate Begins over Texas Fire Captain’s Benefits
State District Judge Randy Clapp ruled this afternoon after hearing from Nikki Araguz that she received a check for $60,000 Thursday, about a tenth of the total cash expected because of Thomas Araguz's July 4 death in an egg farm inferno. Thomas Araguz's parents have filed a lawsuit alleging that the marriage is void because Nikki Araguz was born a man.
Clapp also heard from a Houston Police Department family liaison who said the family can expect about $600,000 in cash, which would be split in half between Nikki Aruguz and her late husband's two sons from a prior marriage. The family can expect other benefits as well.
Clapp also heard testimony from Simone Longoria, Thomas Araguz's mother, who brought the lawsuit days after her son's funeral to "shut Nikki out."
Clapp ordered that Thomas Araguz's gun and his captain's badge be held in trust during the litigation.
Nikki Araguz on Thursday said any allegations that she misled her late husband about her past are false.
Today's hearing is the first step in litigation to determine whether the two were legally married.
In court, Nikki Araguz's birth certificate and an affidavit in which she changed her name were admitted into evidence.
The law that generally determines gender in Texas is a 1991 court case, which held that three factors - a person's gonads, genitalia and chromosomes - determine gender at birth.
Clapp met with attorneys on both sides privately during lunch. He is expected to reconvene at 1:15.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Just Plain Craig Moyer on
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Really, Maybe being human he made a mistake....it happens...its not like he wrote minp with the P all the way over on the other side of the keyboard...But it was funny what you wrote....
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Permalink Reply by Caroline on
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thank you! i'm happy to have received such positive feedback from someone!
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on
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Well Caroline, here is some more for you: I just read your profile and it says:
Why I Love Fire/EMS
nothing feels better than knowing you did something selflessly
Now THAT is a good answer! Good for you!
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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But it was funny what you wrote....
That is what I was going for.
:-D
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Permalink Reply by Sam Dominguez on
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This article does not mention the fact that Thomas Araguz had separated from his wife after learning her history two months prior to being trapped in the fatal July 3 fire....
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That fallen firefighter's parents want to make sure that Thomas' children get the death benefits, not a person that Thomas was going to divorce.
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Allegedly separated. Nikki says her husband knew all along. It is very unlikely that the husband didn't know.
The whole way the parents phrased it...trying to "shut Nikki out" causes me to be suspicious of the parent's motives. The children get half of the $600,000 and she gets the other half. I think regardless of his ultimate motives, since no one can speak for him, and he took the truth to his grave, we can only judge their relationship based on how it was when he passed away; married.
The loophole comes with the 1991 ruling that genitalia determines sex. Many studies have proven and further explained the difference between gender and sex, and discredited the things that try and lump those two together. Society has proven why laws enforcing gender equality need to be in place...I think regardless, it is only fair for each of them to get an equal cut of the money, which as it is the children would not be getting. However to deny his wife the benefits is unfair. The state should not have allowed the marriage if it was illegal from the start.
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Permalink Reply by kevin elsass on
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I am also appalled at this situation. I just read about it, and the facts in this forum are kind of sparse and vague. I would ask Sam in the above post for verification of Thomas' intent to divorce and for the documentation of it being for Nikki not telling him of her past. I agree that gender is different from sex. What I see here is 2 people fell in love, married, and it took the death of one to spark any of this nonsense. The family of the deceased did not like the spouse, so now it is in the courts. If there are children involved, I would think that Thomas would have had it set so that they were taken care of because his children would have taken precedence over who he married who was certainly not the mother of his children UNLESS he did not trust anyone except Nikki to make things right with those he cared about most. I would like to know what his fellow firefighters think of this situation. Also, I wonder how many departments train on situations where reactions to gender related abnormalies are encountered. This has me thinking about a new situation for training.
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Permalink Reply by russ allen on
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very interesting. If the texas law is based on genitalia, then she is a she. She has the parts. My wife had a hysterectomy. I know people with fake boobs. How does that apply? Point is, this is about money. We do not know any of the personnal dynamics here. Were the kids estranged from the step mom? I'd be willing to bet the problem here is the childrens Mother and perhaps the parents. 300K vs 600k. How ridiculous. We lost a fire fighter last year and 2 kids came out of the woodwork. The money is all they care about. I am not judging but call it what it is. Greed.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Pease on
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What gets me is who's flinging the fecal material into the rotating air circulator... The parents of the fallen Captain are the ones (if I read the information completely) causing all of this.
The almighty dollar rules again...
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I would ask Sam in the above post for verification of Thomas' intent to divorce and for the documentation of it being for Nikki not telling him of her past.
Here is the first part of the story.http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/debate-begins-over-te...
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