The Ben Novack Jr. estate passed to his stepdaughter May Abad and her two sons after his wife, Narcy Novack, was convicted of orchestrating his 2009 murder and disqualified from inheriting under Florida’s slayer rule. Narcy had been the primary beneficiary of Ben’s 2006 will, but the law treated her as having predeceased him, which activated the alternate beneficiary provisions. Whether those alternates would actually keep the money became its own multi-year fight, and by the time the dust settled the estate had shrunk from roughly $10 million to under $4 million.
The Two Wills That Set the Fight in Motion
Ben Novack Jr. signed at least two wills that shaped what happened to his fortune. His 2002 will named his mother, Bernice, as the sole beneficiary, with his cousins Meredith and Lisa Fiel as contingent beneficiaries if Bernice predeceased him.
In 2006, Ben replaced that document. The new will named Narcy as the primary beneficiary of everything he owned: real property, cash, life insurance, and his extensive Batman memorabilia collection. If Narcy could not inherit, the 2006 will directed a $150,000 bequest to her daughter from a previous marriage, May Abad, with the remainder going into trusts for May Abad’s two sons. The Fiel cousins were not named at all in the newer document.
How the Slayer Rule Removed Narcy Novack
Florida’s slayer statute bars anyone who unlawfully and intentionally kills another person from inheriting from the victim. The estate passes as though the killer died first, and the same rule extends to life insurance and other contractual benefits tied to the victim’s death.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 732.802 – Killer Not Entitled to Receive Property or Other Benefits by Reason of Victim’s Death
A federal jury convicted Narcy in June 2012 of racketeering and violent crimes in aid of racketeering for orchestrating the murders of Ben and his mother, Bernice. She was sentenced to life in prison that December.2United States Attorneys Office. Narcisa Veliz Novack and Cristobal Veliz Sentenced in White Plains Federal Court to Life in Prison for the Beating Deaths of Ben and Bernice Novack The conviction triggered the slayer rule automatically. The probate court treated Narcy as having died before Ben, which meant the alternate beneficiary clauses of the 2006 will took over.
Who Inherited in Narcy’s Place
With Narcy disqualified, the 2006 will’s fallback provisions put May Abad in line for her $150,000 bequest and directed the bulk of the estate into trusts for May Abad’s two sons. Narcy’s own children and grandchildren were not disqualified. The slayer rule targets the killer, not the killer’s innocent relatives.
The Fiel Cousins’ Undue Influence Challenge
Meredith and Lisa Fiel, the cousins named in the 2002 will, were not willing to accept that result. They sued to have the entire 2006 will thrown out on the ground that Narcy had used coercion and undue influence to get Ben to rewrite his estate plan. Their theory: if Narcy manipulated Ben into signing the 2006 document, every provision in it was tainted, including the bequests to her daughter and grandsons. Voiding the 2006 will would revive the 2002 will, and because Bernice had died, the Fiels would inherit as contingent beneficiaries.
A Florida appellate panel reversed a trial court dismissal in 2015 and ruled that the undue influence allegations were strong enough to move forward. The court drew a clean line between the two doctrines. The slayer rule is mechanical: a conviction disqualifies the killer and nothing more. Undue influence is a separate claim that, if proven, can void an entire will, sweeping out innocent alternate beneficiaries along with the manipulator.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 732.802 – Killer Not Entitled to Receive Property or Other Benefits by Reason of Victim’s Death
Proving undue influence is harder than proving a murder conviction. The Fiels needed to show that Narcy’s manipulation was pervasive enough to corrupt the will as a whole, not just the parts naming her personally.
What Was Left to Inherit
Early estimates put the estate at around $10 million, though some accounts placed it closer to $6 million even before litigation began, with the final figure depending in part on appraisals of the Batman memorabilia. Five years into the probate battle, court filings showed the estate had dropped to under $4 million. The criminal investigation, the federal racketeering prosecution, and the probate litigation ran at the same time, and each generated its own legal costs.
Where Things Stand
The 2015 appellate ruling did not decide the estate. It sent the Fiel cousins’ undue influence claim back to the trial court for further proceedings, leaving the ultimate question open in public records. If the Fiels proved undue influence, the 2002 will would control and they would inherit. If the 2006 will survived the challenge, May Abad and her sons would keep their bequests from whatever remained. Either way, a substantial share of Ben Novack Jr.’s fortune went to legal fees rather than to any surviving family member.