KINGSTON >> There’s a new battle brewing between the parents of Mason DeCosmo – this one over who should be the administrator of the slain toddler’s estate.
Louis DeCosmo, Mason’s father, has filed papers in Ulster County Surrogate Court for “letters of administration,” appointing him the administrator of the boy’s estate.
If named administrator, court papers state, DeCosmo will bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the Ulster County Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services.
But Katlin Wolfert, the boy’s mother, is challenging that petition, saying DeCosmo is neither legally nor morally fit to be the administrator of her son’s estate. She said she intends to file a petition of her own for letters of administration.
“Louis has character flaws, anger management issues and deceitfulness issues,” Wolfert states in court papers.
She says in the papers that DeCosmo is a convicted felon and a pimp who has used hired muscle to settle disputes.
Wolfert also alleges DeCosmo defrauded investors by taking money to open a night club that he never opened, arranged for women to meet up with men in New York City to “exchange sex for money,” has paid people to assault others with whom he had disputes and has been accused of “domestic disputes and verbal altercations.”
She said DeCosmo was convicted of felony burglary in 2006.
Beyond that, she said, DeCosmo is blind, a disability that makes him ineligible to be administrator since the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act allows the court to deny that status to anyone who is unable to read or write the English language.
Reached Thursday, DeCosmo declined to comment, citing ongoing court cases.
DeCosmo and Wolfert are embroiled in a contentious Family Court case in which DeCosmo is seeking permanent custody of the couple’s surviving 14-month-old son, Jaxon.
DeCosmo was granted temporary custody of the child shortly Mason’s death last summer. Last week, an Ulster County Family Court judge granted Wolfert supervised visitation with Jaxon.
Mason died Aug. 5, 2014, in his Milton home from blunt-force trauma that authorities say was inflicted by Wolfert’s live-in boyfriend, Kenneth Stahli. Stahli has been charged with second-degree murder and is expected to stand trial in April.
Wolfert is not seeking custody of Jaxon in the Family Court proceedings, but she wants the court to give custody of the child to her mother.
On Thursday, Wolfert saw Jaxon for the first time since Mason died, in a one-hour supervised visit at the Ulster County Department of Social Services office.
Family Court proceedings are to resume at 2 p.m. on March 4.
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