Judge found dead in Hudson River did not include husband in will

May 19, 2017

Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s current husband has been cut out of her estate, all because when the history-making judge’s body was discovered in the Hudson River, Abdus-Salaam had an outdated will.

The will, which was drawn up on Dec. 8, 2004, leaves her entire estate to her mother and siblings, as she was going through a divorce with her third husband at the time and did not want him to have any part in her estate. “I am presently married to, but in the midst of divorce proceedings with, Hector Nova,” she wrote in the 9-page will.

However, she was more recently married to Rev. Gregory Jacobs, in June 2016. Jacobs is not mentioned in the old will because of the date it was written. Instead, 25 percent of her estate is promised to her mother, with the rest being divided equally between her five brothers and sisters.

“I’m surprised she doesn’t have an updated will,” a close friend told the New York Post. “[But] I’m happy to know that they are the beneficiaries.”

The source continued on to say that Abdus-Salaam had always been “very thoughtful and helpful” when it came to her family, “particularly where nieces and nephews were concerned for college and things like that.”