Mica Miller's pastor husband is fighting her family's efforts to change her last name (2024)

MYRTLE BEACH — Embattled pastor John Paul “J.P.” Miller is fighting the efforts of his late wife Mica’s family to posthumously change her last name, according to newly filed family court records.

J.P. Miller, 45, has also asked the court to deny the family’s request that he pay for a forensic financial expert. And he wants them to pay for his attorney fees.

The June 6 filing comes in response to a complaint filed by Mica Miller’s sister Sierra Francis. She has accused the minister of abusing Mica and wants the court to name her as the special administrator and representative of her sister’s estate.

Francis also named Miller’s Myrtle Beach church, Solid Rock At Market Common, as a defendant in the case. Mica Miller had worked as the church’s creative director.

Miller’s attorneys could not be reached, and Solid Rock’s attorney, Michael Schwartz, declined to comment.

After Mica’s body was found at Lumber River State Park on April 27, authorities ruled the 30-year-old’s death a suicide. But Mica’s family and friends have continued to push for a deeper accounting of her husband’s behavior during the marriage and the toll they said it took on his young wife.

Her death also brought scrutiny to J.P. Miller’s church, which was added as a co-defendant in her separation support and maintenance case against her husband.

Before Mica died, she had asked a judge in her separation case to restore her maiden name of Francis.

Her sister has now requested a posthumous name change. This would either restore Mica’s name to Mica Francis or it would simply drop her last name, making it Mica Acacia, as Acacia was her middle name.

If granted, the death certificate and all other relevant documents would reflect this change.

”(Mica) is entitled to have her maiden name restored to her, or to have the last name Miller dropped, for she is deceased and her estate is not trying to hide from any debts, obligations or any other legal responsibilities that may exist,” according to Francis’ amended complaint filed May 7.

Sierra Francis also asked the judge to grant Mica’s family the appointment of a forensic expert to conduct a financial investigation into the marital estate for any “fraudulent transfers of marital property including money and accounts,” according to the family court filing.

Mica’s family alleges that J.P. Miller took out two separate mortgages on the home in 2020 and 2021, with the monthly mortgage payments from these two mortgages being paid from joint marital funds.

The family contends this use of marital funds, as well as Mica’s financial contribution to the home’s $90,000 worth of upgrades and improvements, entitles her to equal distribution of the house as a marital asset, according to court documents.

Mica’s family is asking the judge to force J.P. Miller to pay for the costs of the forensic expert and financial investigation, as well as pay for the family’s attorney fees.

In his new court filing, J.P. Miller denied any and all claims of financial wrongdoing.

Schwartz, Solid Rock’s attorney, filed a response June 6, asking the court to issue a restraining order that prevents Francis from “bothering, harassing, contacting, or otherwise persecuting church members or officials” at their place of worship, homes or other locations.

Since Mica’s death, some of her supporters have demonstrated outside the church.

Schwartz noted that Solid Rock “continues to believe that this case should be amicably resolved.” However, the attorney noted that if that doesn’t happen, the church wants the court to force Mica’s family to pay its legal fees.

This is not the only legal development involving the pastor.

His first wife, Alison Williams, who divorced him around 2017 after discovering he was having an affair with Mica, requested an emergency hearing in late May to seek full custody of their two teenage children.

A judge on May 29 granted Williams’ emergency request to deny J.P. Miller visitation with his children, citing the “imminent risk and threat of harm” for the children. The couple had two other children during the marriage who are now adults.

The judge sealed the court records after a June 6 emergency hearing in the case.

A day before that hearing, Judge Jan Holmes signed an order to grant a mutual temporary agreement in Mica’s separation case against J.P. Miller.

That order states that Mica’s phone and other possessions collected by investigators at the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office will be turned over to Mica’s attorney Regina Ward, not J.P. Miller.

The items in evidence include Mica’s electronics, her purse and its contents, her clothing and all personal property within the 2016 Honda Civic that she drove to the state park. The car will be turned over to Mica’s godmother Dianna Niosi, the car’s co-signer and co-owner.

The sheriff’s office will release all items from evidence once its investigation is completed, according to the court order.

The judge also issued several restraining orders related to marital property, marital debts and contact between parties. In earlier filings, Ward had asked the court to prevent J.P. Miller from harassing or threatening his deceased wife’s family and close friends, including via social media. But she clarified that request on June 5.

”Just because we’re filing a restraining order, that does not mean that someone has already done these types of behaviors,” Ward said. “These are formalities that are put into place to protect all parties prior to anything like that happening. We have not had a problem with Mr. Miller trying to contact anybody, or anybody trying to violate any of these terms.”

Both parties in that case will be prohibited from contacting one another, and all forms of communication will need to come from their attorneys. Also, they will be prohibited from visiting each other’s homes and places of employment, or making threats.

J.P. Miller will specifically be prohibited from visiting the homes or workplaces of Mica’s family members, including her siblings and parents.

Both parties will be prohibited from sharing or disseminating any private or provocative photos of either party in the case with any third party or agency, according to the court order.

In probate court records, Mica’s family has accused J.P. Miller of abusing his wife and driving her to live in fear. About six weeks before her death, Mica had called the police on J.P. Miller at least three times, saying that he slashed her tires, tracked her car and shown up at a gas station to harass her, according to police reports.

“My sister expressed to me that she was fearful that she would not make it to the divorce and that her life would be taken from her,” Francis wrote in an affidavit. “It is my belief based on conversations with my sister that she told multiple people, including other family members.”

“Mica stated to me on many occasions, ‘If I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me. It was JP.’ “

Meanwhile, the pastor has steadfastly maintained in statements that he didn’t abuse Mica and that he is simply a grieving husband struggling to come to grips with his wife’s untimely death.

“People seem to forget that Mica corresponded with me more than anybody else on planet Earth,” J.P. Miller said in a recent TikTok video. “I know her heart and I have her text messages, and we’re going to disprove all the lies that are out there.”