Robin Williams' wife, children fight over his estate

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By SUDHIN THANAWALA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Robin Williams' children and wife have gone to court in a fight over the late comedian's estate.

In papers filed in December in San Francisco Superior Court, Williams' wife, Susan, accuses the comedian's children from two previous marriages of taking items without her permission and asks the court to exclude the contents of the Tiburon home that she shared with Williams from the jewelry, memorabilia and other items Williams said the children should have.

The children, Zachary, Zelda and Cody, counter that Susan Williams is "adding insult to a terrible injury" by trying to change the trust agreement and rob them of the late actor's clothing and other personal items.

"The Williams' children are heartbroken that Petitioner, Mr. Williams' wife of less than three years, has acted against his wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate," attorneys for the children said in court papers.

FULL story at link.




Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cb42d90768194925bcce13af0c9dd066/robin-williams-wife-children-fight-over-his-estate

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. Oh, no....

This is sad.

[arcane1]

2. Money :(

[markpkessinger]

15. It isn't just about money . . .

. . . these kinds of conflicts arise among heirs of even relatively modest estates. It almost happened among me and my siblings after our parents died. We are a close family -- always have been. Growing up, we had seen how our father's family had been torn apart over the settlement of his mother's estate -- a rift between one sister and the other four siblings that took about 25 years to even begin to heal. We swore we would never do that. Our parents, who died 12 days apart, had decent-sized, but by no means large, estate. And it wasn't long before major disagreements began occurring over some minor stuff, as well as a few major issues (such as what to do with the family home, which had been built by our great grandfather -- whose photo serves as my DU avatar -- and in which my father had been born and in which both he and my mother died, and in which we all had great attachment). Fortunately, after one particularly monumental blow-up, each of us, on his/her own, took a step back and said to ourselves, "Whoa, this is NOT who we are!" And we all came together around a conscious decision that we would not permit any disagreements over estate matters to tear us apart as a family. From that point on, we were able to work together to do what needed to be done.

What I came to realize, through all of that, is that in the throes of profound grief, sometimes material things take on a significance we wouldn't normally attach to them. And deep down, we try to cling to certain things which have suddenly taken on a new meaning to us as a means of holding on to some part of the person(s) we have lost. Eventually, of course, we come to know that these material things DON'T actually mitigate our sense of loss at all. But getting to that place, for many people, takes time.

Most families, I think, tend to rush the process of settling a loved one's estate. They think that if they hurry up and get that over with, they will somehow be able to more quickly put the overwhelming experience of loss and grief behind them. But I think most of us who have gone through that experience and have come out the other side will agree that the reality is it just doesn't work like that.

[RobinA]

23. Great Post

My sister and I are going to have an old house that is worth a decent amount of money one day. It also costs truckloads of money to upkeep. We are close, but I worry about the "what to do" with it subject.

I think you are right about the material things. When an ex-but-still-friends SO died suddenly a year ago I went running around the house obsessively, and I mean obsessively, trying to find every old movie and concert ticket stub from things we had seen together. I knew it was ridiculous, but I couldn't stop.

[markpkessinger]

29. Grief can do some very strange things to people n/t

[davidpdx]

3. This isn't going to end well....

Send Judge Judy in there to sort this out.

[Darb]

4. How pathetically typical.

Sad, sad sad.

[virgogal]

5. Sad,but to me te kids would have priority.

[steve2470]

6. this is sad, I'm sure Robin never wanted it this way nt

[warrant46]

10. Maybe if he thought it out Better

This wouldn't have happened. But instead he shuffled off the mortal coil leaving this mess behind.

[Nay]

26. What's sad is that he planned his exit but didn't get his will, papers, etc., in

order before he killed himself. I realize that he was depressed, but I would think that a simple call to his lawyer would have generated a specific will that would have short-circuited all this. Ah, well.

[appalachiablue]

7. Sad turn of affairs esp. for the kids. Robin didn't have such good luck with marriage perhaps.

[Archae]

9. I'm not surprised.

Can you imagine what it's going to look like when one or the other of the Koch brothers dies?

[warrant46]

11. Some real Benjamins will be fought over

Actually "Train Loads" of Benjamins

[DebJ]

19. OMG I never thought about whether they reproduced or not.

On edit: And I'm afraid to do the google and find out.

[ustilago]

24. There are actually four of them...

Charles, David, Frederick, and William. All rich. And a quick look at their Wikipedia pages reveals that they've already fought over money on previous occasions.

[elleng]

12. :-(

Up there with MLK family disputes for sadness it invokes in the public.

[brer cat]

13. True, elleng. nt

[project_bluebook]

14. No one will ever fight over my estate

Unless they need a pot to piss in.

R.I.P Robin.

[Nay]

27. No one will fight over ours either, because we only have one kid! He gets

it all!

[sakabatou]

16. :(

[HeiressofBickworth]

17. My best friend of over 40 years was a probate paralegal, now retired.

During her career, she regaled me with tales of the disputes among heirs, non-heirs who thought they should be heirs, and the unofficial heirs: the lawyers.

I told my daughter that she will never have to defend her position as my heir -- she is my ONLY child. However, I do have a cousin who is drooling over a piece of jewelry her mother gave me many years ago.

[Diclotican]

22. HeiressofBickworth

HeiressofBickworth

Then you should give your piece of jewelry to someone you think is deserving it - when and if you left this world for something better - or just die and is burried in the ground depending of what youself belive on the matter... Or be kinder than I would have been, and give the jewelry to your cousin when you leave this earth..

To fight over ones real estate, small or large is sad - and wil destroy so mutch contact between families... The best is, if posible to share it between the children as best as posible - we managed it when our mom died a few years ago - but our mom had stated it clearly too - that she wanted her money and other things to be given fairly between our tree kids - as best as human posible - so no one should be hurt by the other - He stated that for the last two decades - and we respected her wishes when we was to do her estate after she died..

And even then I suspect my sister got a better deal than I and my brother got - but hey - at least we are still communicating between us

And I think that is the right way to do it - work togheter and be willing to do the right thing even if it might hurt little egoes - after all - it is your parents - and you should be grown enough to not be ugly when a estate is finished...

Diclotican

[HeiressofBickworth]

35. It's a matter of principle at this point

Cousin's mother (who was my mother's sister) lived with me for a while when she was essentially homeless. She never had any money to contribute to the household expenses, but she babysat my daughter and did the cooking. When she finally got a place to live on her own, she gave me two rings, neither one of them particularly valuable as they were semi-precious stones, not diamonds or anything like that. When she died, her daughter (my cousin) didn't just ask but demanded that I give her the rings. I told her that her mother gave them to me, they were sentimental to me and I was going to keep them. She then demanded that I put a clause in my will that gave them to her when I died -- which demand I also declined. She then went to my daughter and demanded that when I died, my daughter give her the rings. I don't know and won't care what she does with the rings after I'm gone, but until then I'm going to keep wearing them and enjoying them when I want. I expect that if she out-lives me, she will go after the rings before my body turns cold.

[Diclotican]

36. HeiressofBickworth

HeiressofBickworth

A nasty thing in other words - sad when that happened - but many do that for some reasons - And it was kind for you, to help them when she was in trouble - being homeless - that is a hard thing to be I suspect - never been it myself even if close at one point - even if she never really could give you economical help when she lived with you - at least she had a sentiment about how gratefully she was - and even if the gift you was given wasn't to much worth - I do hope you understand the sentiment it was given...

And it was maybe stupid of your cousin - to demand the things back - not asking politely - but outright demand it as it was something she just be given back... I think it war rather rash of her - to demand you put a clause in your will - where you gave it to her - instead of someone else who you think maybe would like it better - and maybe even know the sentiment better...

It is good you want to continue to enjoy your jewelry as it was given to you - and you should not let anyone give you bad feeing for doing so - And some family member is like that - will start fighting over things that is less valuable than you think - as fast as you are dead - and not even cold...

I know - my fathers fiance did that when he died - robbed him clean the day after he was dead - he was not even cold when she was in the bank to get his money - not that it was to much anyway - but boy she made a ruckus out of it... To get as much as she could get her hands on... She even accused me to the police that I had let my hands on her... Something I have never did - even though I do have been nasty with her a few times when she pushed my bottoms to much - I treathed to sue her for everything she got, if she doesn't recanted that story - and she did - so I doesn't got any closer to that... I hope she live to a old age - with as much pain in her body as human posible.... Pox on her..

Diclotican

[Skittles]

18. families are such a joy

[jtuck004]

20. As frequently as this happens, I think we should select the vulture as our national bird. n/t

[olddots]

21. when theres a will theres a way

a way to start wars .

[Nitram]

25. He's laughing as he watches the dramatic farce unfold.

[marble falls]

28. The only winners will be the lawyers and the tabloid press. What a shameful way to over shadow.....

the legacy of Robin Williams. Sadder still: is anyone really surprised?

[liberalhistorian]

30. Who the hell does the wife think she is?

They were not even married for that long of a time, who does she think she is to keep them from items that Williams HIMSELF said he wanted his OWN CHILDREN to have? What a selfish, gold-digging bitch.

If he was clear in his estate planning and agreements, then she has NO business inserting herself in that and trying to change it. I've seen this far too many times, frankly, the spouse of someone with children from other marriages/relationships attempting to go against what the deceased spouse wanted and fighting the children even if it was in the will/estate plan. And this especially happens when they haven't even been married that long.

Who the FUCK does she think she is? I hope the probate judge smacks her down GOOD.

[eissa]

32. Agree

Three years?! Sit down, gold digger.

[Xithras]

33. She thinks, correctly, that it's her home and she was his wife. And this isn't about gold digging.

This isn't a case of greed, but of conflicting wills. According to his will, all of his personal possessions were to be placed in a trust and given to his children. That will also mandated that a second trust be created for his wife. The trust he created for her says that she gets ownership of the house, its contents, and all expenses needed for its updates and improvements. The first trust, which is unrelated to the second, specified that Williams second home, jewelry, clothing, awards, and photos go to his children.

The problem here is that Williams created a conflict. One trust says that she gets everything in the home, and the other says that his kids get his personal property. Clearly they get all of his personal property outside of the home, but what about his personal property INSIDE the home?

And here's how you can tell it's not golddigging: She has already told the court that she has no interest in keeping items from his acting career, including his awards, costumes, and photographs. Those are where the real money is, and she wants his children to have them. The items in dispute are a bit less valuble...Williams had amassed a collection of Native American art, theater masks, Japanese anime statues, and other items as a hobby and decorated the home with them. The children are claiming that these are his personal items and demand ownership of them. She is saying that they are decorations he placed in the home, and should remain in the home. Williams, after all, said that she gets to keep the "Tiburon home and its contents". They also want every bit of his clothing purchased prior to his marriage, without exception. She is requesting ownership of only a few of these items, including the tuxedo he wore to their wedding.

When his children demanded access to her home to remove all of these items, she refused to let them in and filed a court request asking for clarification as to who owns what. She isn't CHALLENGING anything he explicitly gave them, but simply asked the court to clarify ownership of a few of the less black and white items.

[dembotoz]

31. my mom recently died (sept) and the sage advice i got from folks who would know

get a good lawyer cause you never know

1st from a retired lawyer--he would not do it himself because is retired

2nd from a business associate who went thru a messy probate.--Hire the lawyer i had--she straightened out my mess and fixed it.....

anyway i did, i have a good lawyer and so far so good. Estates can do a great deal of damage. Seen it first hand, vile evil stuff-and this is when things are sorta clear cut.
idiot brothers in law from first marriage still fuming over an estate when their father died before the beatles showed up....

alas i am an only child and my mom never remarried after my dad died years ago so i would have to argue with myself--and sometimes i do

[Xithras]

34. Here's a link to a much less biased article.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Robin-Williams-widow-kids-battling-over-estate-6057757.php

Basically, Williams created two trusts. In one, he gave his kids all of his awards, personal items, memorabilia, and items purchased before his last marriage. In the other, he gave his wife their Tiburon home, all of its contents, and a stipend to keep the house up.

The wife has already agreed to give the kids all of his acting memorabilia, but they are arguing over whether the "personal items" he gave his kids includes things like the art collection he amassed in his home, or whether that collection is part of the "Tiburon home and all its contents" that Williams gave to his wife in her trust.