by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
A judge in Pennsylvania recently ruled that former NFL running back Tom Sullivan's death benefits should not go to the wife he was allegedly married to after his death. Instead, the benefits should go to a woman he married years earlier, but never divorced.
Tom Sullivan's ex-wife Barbara Sullivan has two daughters with the player from their 16-year marriage. Since Tom's death in 2002, Barbara and their two daughters were receiving $2,700 per month under the NFL's spousal benefit policy. Under South Carolina's bigamy law, the benefits do not legally belong to her and were stopped immediately.
