Wednesday Weirdness-Getting Yourself Adopted for Rent-Stabilized Apartment in New York City UPDATED
Welcome to Wednesday Weirdness, a recurring theme where we post something truly weird and wacky in adoption or child welfare.
Hey, for $100-a-month rent, why not, right? Beneficiary of his pension and life insurance too! Wow, that is the Triple Crown 
of perks!
“If a polo tycoon can’t adopt his girlfriend to protect his fortune, should a 62-year-old woman be allowed to keep a $100/month Long Island City rent-stabilized apartment because she was adopted by its previous tenant… who was an 85-year-old senile Star Trek fan?
According to the Post, “Pamela Becker grew up in a privileged family — her actual father, the late Ralph Becker, was US ambassador to Honduras during the Ford administration —” but “A cat-sitting gig brought her to a six-unit apartment building on 47th Road.” She befriended Nicholas “Uncle Nicky” DeTommaso (a retired cook and “a gregarious ‘Star Trek’ fan”) and moved into his apartment, soon getting cars from DeTommaso as well as other privileges from him:
DeTomasso was ailing with dementia and possibly prostate cancer, according to a 2006 doctor’s note. Becker managed to get a power of attorney for DeTommaso in 2007, meaning she could make financial and legal decisions for him.
Less than a month before DeTommaso died, Becker got the big prize: a new dad with deep pockets and piddling rent. Her adoption was formalized on June 23, 2009, and she had already become the beneficiary of his life insurance and pension, records show.
Becker, whose brother is the mayor of Salt Lake City (he says they’ve been estranged for a very long time), insists that DeTomasso was of sound mind and says she took good care of him. And she’s going to fight a NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal decision that found she was not entitled to the apartment because she only lived there as a family member for 22 days before her “dad” died. (It seems that relatives must “simultaneously [reside] in the apartment as their primary residence” for a two-year period.) Becker said, “I’m legally adopted. I’m going to win this battle.”
However, if Becker loses, the apartment could be rented out at $1,500/month.”
For $100/Month LIC Apartment, 62-Year-Old Lady Got Adopted By 85-Year-Old Star Trek Fan
[Gothamist 5/6/13 by Jen Chung]
Update: “A crafty tenant in a New York City apartment has figured out an ingenious scheme to keep her hands on the oft-sought gem of the New York real estate market: The coveted rent-controlled apartment.
At 63 years old, Pamela Becker – who now calls herself ‘Maria DeTommaso’ – had herself legally adopted by an elderly retired dock worker so his $100-a-month, rent-controlled, two-bedroom apartment in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Long Island City, Queens, would go to her, the man’s ‘daughter.’
Becker now is battling the couple who owns the building – who claim she has no right to live in the apartment at its rent-controlled price – in Queens Housing Court over whether she has any right to the apartment.
‘She has made my life a living hell,’ Sugrim Outar, who owns the small apartment building with his wife, said on the witness stand during a court hearing last week, the New York Post reports.
According to the paper, Becker first came to the apartment building in the 1990s as a cat-sitter for a tenant.
At some point, the former yoga instructor befriended DeTommaso – and she latched on.
Neighbors say Becker would often take the old man shopping and spend time with him. Soon after, he started giving her gifts – including a ‘series of cars.’
By 2002, Becker had officially moved in with the older man, who in 2007 was diagnosed with dementia, at which point Becker was granted power of attorney for the ailing former dock worker.
As the person in charge of making all of his financial and legal decisions, Becker became the beneficiary of his life insurance policy and his pension.
However, she refused to marry him.
‘Some people said I should marry him. I didn’t want to marry him, that’s gross. I don’t do stuff like that,’ Becker told the Post.
Rather, Becker had herself legally adopted by DeTommaso just weeks before his June 2009 death.
Since DeTommaso’s death, Becker has continued to live in the apartment – and pay the $100-a-month rent.
Long Island City’s proximity to Manhattan – one subway stop from Grand Central Station in midtown – as well as the construction of a collection of luxury high-rise apartment buildings over the last decade has rental prices in the area far higher than the $100-a-month Becker currently is paying to live in her ‘father’s’ rent controlled apartment.
In 2013, the average price for a two-bedroom apartment in the emerging neighborhood was about $3,000. And that was after a $50-a-month increase from the previous year.
The Outars were forced to withdraw their lawsuit against Becker due to technical issues. Sugrim Outar, however, says he plans to try and have Becker evicted from his property.
‘I’m legally adopted,’ Becker told the Post. ‘I’m going to win this battle.'”
Woman, 63, has herself legally adopted by elderly man with dementia so she can inherit his $100-a-month rent-controlled New York City apartment
[Daily Mail 3/28/14]
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