This is the last chapter -- for a while, at least -- in the story of a woman who was raised by one man all the while wondering if another man was her biological father. There was plenty of evidence, certainly. But when Nina asked her father, Giuseppe, about her suspicions, he put his head down and cried. He didn't want to talk about it, even years after her mother had died. When she decided to pursue the issue further, she discovered that the other man, Sebastiano, had been quite wealthy. If she can prove she is his daughter, she will be able to claim her identity and her inheritance -- in Sebastiano's country, Italy, she would be entitled to half of his $100 million estate.

This case is not in Florida, but Florida law would pose a similar problem for Nina. The problem was more complicated than she thought. Before she could ask the Italian court to recognize her as Sebastiano's heir, she had to prove that she was not Giuseppe's daughter.

In New York, as in Florida, the child of a married woman is presumed to be the child of her husband. The Italian court dismissed Nina's original claim, because Giuseppe was listed on her birth certificate as her father.

She filed a claim in New York, then, against the city as custodian of records, asking to have Giuseppe's name removed from her birth certificate. One city official said that of the 38,000 applications to amend birth certificates every year, only a dozen or so want to remove a father's name and leave the space blank.

The city is reluctant to make the change without sufficient proof. It is the era of identity theft, after all. And the state is reluctant to undermine the long-held tenet that the child of a married mother is the child of the husband. One judge chastised Nina for denying her father in order to claim a fortune.

The outcome of the case could change family law and probate law. It could take some time, though, for Nina to settle the matter. And Nina insists that the case is primarily about identity. Yes, the $50 million is tempting, but most of all she wants to know who she is. "I exist. I am," she explained.

We love this stuff, but we're probate nerds.

Source: New York Times, "New York Paternity Fight May Have Millions of Ripples," William Glaberson and Elisabetta Povoledo, 04j/15/11