Woman not entitled to Jell-O inheritance

ALBANY, N.Y., March 14 (UPI) -- New York's highest court ruled a woman born out of wedlock to a descendant of the Jell-O fortune isn't entitled to any of the family money.

The ruling reverses an appellate court decision that Washington state resident Elizabeth McNabb was entitled to a portion of the estate of her mother, Barbara Woodward Piel, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reported. Piel was a descendant of the Le Roy family that bought the Jell-O rights in 1899.

In 1955, the then-unmarried Piel gave birth to Elizabeth then put the child up for adoption. McNabb eventually reunited with her mother and learned of the Jell-O link.

After Piel's death, a bank determined her trusts should be divided between her two daughters, but not with McNabb, which the Monroe County Surrogate's Court upheld. An appellate court reversed the decision, determining McNabb was entitled to part of the inheritance because the trusts came before a New York law amendment saying an adopted child couldn't inherit from a biological parent unless the parent clearly planned to include the child among descendants.

The Court of Appeals reversed, saying it found no legislative evidence indicating a child put up for adoption should share in an inheritance.