South Texas Chisme: Power stronger than blood

South Texas Chisme: Power stronger than blood

Judge rules against man who wanted to contest estate
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SARITA, Texas -- A judge ruled Monday against a Corpus Christi man who wanted to contest the estate of a wealthy rancher he believes was his grandfather.
"This court affirmatively believes in the finality of judgment," state District Judge Manuel Banales said, deciding in favor of two charitable organizations that control the Kenedy Ranch, which has assets estimated at up to $1 billion.
Ray Fernandez, who believes his mother, Ann Fernandez, was the illegitimate daughter and sole heir of South Texas rancher John Kenedy, is waiting for the state Supreme Court to decide whether he can exhume Kenedy's body.
Banales' ruling defeats Fernandez's attempt in probate court in Austin to reopen the Kenedy estate, but Fernandez says he will appeal.
Kenedy was said to be sterile because of a childhood illness.
Lawyers for the two charitable trusts that control the estate each filed a motion to block Fernandez, who is the Nueces County medical examiner.
"The fact of the matter, judge, is it is too late, too late. This action was filed almost 15 years after the estate had been litigated, after the estate had been closed," Jorge Rangel told Banales. "This comes too late regardless of what is determined by DNA."
Marcos Ronquillo, attorney for the Fernandezes, argued that the Fernandezes did not know until May 2000 that they might be Kenedy descendants and couldn't fight for an inheritance when the estate was settled after years of litigation in 1987.
Kenedy's wife, Elena Kenedy, and his sister, Sarita Kenedy East, used their share of the 400,000-acre, oil-rich Kenedy Ranch holdings to support various Roman Catholic charities. John Kenedy died in Mexico in 1948.
Fernandez's suspicions about his heritage began when his grandmother, Maria Rowland Goates made a deathbed statement that he "looked like his grandfather, Johnny Kenedy."
Fernandez learned that John Kenedy had owned the ranch about 40 miles south of Corpus Christi where his grandmother had worked as a maid in her teen years. He noticed an uncanny resemblance when he saw a picture of Kenedy.
A DNA sample taken from dried saliva on an old envelope showed enough of a match between Ann Fernandez and some Kenedy relatives for Austin Probate Judge Guy Herman in 2004 to order the exhumation.
The Kenedy family settled the desolate stretch of coastal desert more than a century ago.
Kenedy's grandfather, Mifflin Kenedy, the son of Pennsylvania Quakers, made a career on riverboats and helped transport troops to the Rio Grande during the Mexican War. In 1850, he formed a riverboat partnership with Capt. Richard King, namesake of nearby Kingsville.
The family openly lamented that Kenedy and his sister, Sarita, were sterile and unable to carry on the lineage that ruled the ranch for decades.
Ann Fernandez, now 82, said in an 2002 affidavit that she had suspected Kenedy was her father as early as the 1940s, when he used to drive her to work at a Corpus Christi hospital.
Ann Fernandez has been too ill to take active part in the legal battle. She appeared in court for the first time Monday, prompting the proceedings to be moved to a building that could accommodate her wheelchair.
Ray Fernandez said the ruling Monday would likely be appealed.
"I have an obligation to my mother to work on this," he said. "It's not a matter of destroying charities, it's a matter of justice for my mom."