Actor, songwriter and talk show host Alan Thicke died in December of last year, likely thinking prior to his passing that he had duly engaged in estate planning in a reflective and sound manner.
Seemingly, and based on estate administration details that have recently emerged in court documents, he did just that, providing for surviving family members in a specific and reflective way.
Notwithstanding the obvious thought that Thicke put into the process, though, things have seemingly unraveled in a most material manner within just a handful of months after his death.
As reported in various news outlets, two of Thicke’s sons, who serve as co-trustees of a trust created by their father, filed a petition in a California state court last week that alleges wrongdoing on the part of Tanya Callau Thicke, Alan Thicke’s third wife.
Callau was beneficiary of a $500,000 life insurance policy taken out by Thicke. He additionally provided for her by leaving her with a considerable amount of income-generating assets and personal property.
Court documents reveal that, despite those provisions, Callau contends that there are material issues that need to be judicially addressed and sorted out relating to the trust and to an unfair prenuptial agreement she signed with Thicke prior to their marriage.
The co-trustees’ petition states that Callau “threatened to make her claims fodder for ‘tabloid publicity'” unless they engaged in mediation and acceded to her demands for administration modifications.
Callau’s legal counsel calls the trustees’ legal action a “smear tactic” aimed at his client.
Mediation is apparently a true sticking point in the matter. Callau’s attorney acknowledges his client’s demand that the parties engage in the process. The trustees counter that Callau has no legal right to force that dictate at all, given that the trust — which already provides for her — is clearly written and that she already executed a premarital contract.