Resident Suing To Get Home Ownership Rights Back

Father Edwin Bohula, a Catholic priest who passed away in 2007, and Irene Serwa lived together as virtual "husband and wife" at a home on Crabtree Lane in Des Plaines, according to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Court last month.

Because of changes Bohula made to his will and "deed in trust" agreements on the property, Serwa no longer has clear ownership rights and cannot sell the house. She is suing the estate of her former companion to get those rights back.

Until 1998, Serwa was the sole owner of the home. That year she added Bohula as a co-owner of the home, according to the court complaint and Maine Township Assessor's records.

In 2007 Maine Township records show a change in the "deed and trust" listing Bohula as the primary owner of the property. In 2006 Bohula changed his will to leave the home to the Dominican Sisters of Chicago Rosary Hill Convalescent Home granting Serwa the right to live in the home for the rest of her life. Because of that change Serwa is now unable to sell the house.

Serwa's suit alleges Bohula never told her of changes to the will and that Bohula violated an agreement that co-ownership of the home would revert back to Serwa upon his death.

Bohula's estate lists Serwa, Sister Natalie Pekala, the mother superior of Dominican Sisters of Chicago Rosary Hill Convalescent Home and Bohula's sister, Pauline Bohula, as co-trustees of Fr. Bohula's trust (estate).

According to the suit and the Cook County Clerk's office, Bohula and Serwa were never legally married though Serwa signed the court filing as both Irene Serwa and Irene Bohula.

Serwa's suit says the two met in 1959 in grammar school. Serwa exchanged letters with Fr. Bohula after he joined the Navy in 1964. The two became reacquainted in 1994. That year, after Bohula's mother died the relationship became closer, according the court filing. By 1996 Fr. Bohula was regularly staying at Serwa's home helping her through a difficult period and by 1998 Bohula was living with Serwa in her Des Plaines home full time.

In 1998, the suit says Fr. Bohula convinced Serwa to "place the home (deed) in joint tenancy" to seal their relationship as he could not marry her because of his position as a Catholic priest.

Bohula was the pastor of a Catholic church in Lemont attended by Serwa until shortly before his death.

Serwa did not return several calls for comment. Attorneys for both Serwa and those representing Pauline Bohula and a spokeswoman for the Dominican sisters would not comment on the case.


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