“The wife and girlfriend of the Painter of Light, Thomas Kinkade, are preparing for battle to decide who gets what of his $60 million estate,” as the Daily Mail reports.
“The two sides will come face to face in an Los Angeles probate court on Monday, both claiming to have been left the artist’s fortune.
“Kinkade was America’s most collected artist before his death four months ago, with his work said to hang in one in 20 homes in the States, including the White House.
“He died after ingesting a cocktail of alcohol and Valium, having battled with alcoholism for two years and the women are now engaged in a bitter fight to secure what they each claim is rightfully theirs.”
The rest of the article is here.
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Mrs. Kinkade has four lovely daughters by Thomas.
His bimbo spent a couple of years watching him drink himself to death.
How do you think the judge is going rule?
I feel the wife should get the entire estate. If the “girlfriend” gets anything wouldn’t that amount to being paid for “services” rendered? Aren’t those type of “services” for payment illegal in this state?
The guy was worth 60 million.
They come out of the woodwork.
His paramour’s crude handwritten note, giving her a house and a fortune, isn’t going to impress the court.
Best wishes to the true loved ones he left behind.
(Have you seen his girls? Beautiful.)
The “crude handwritten note” is a holographic will. It seems to have been executed correctly. His wife will receive her share of the community estate; the girlfriend will receive Kinkade’s share of the estate.
Then why do we need lawyers?
You don’t need one for a simple will.
John:
A holographic will sure didn’t help my buddy Melvin Dummar. (For readers of this blog unfamiliar the name Melvin Dummar, here’s some background):
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Apr-12-Mon-2004/news/23612501.html
For a couple years in the mid-80s, I had Mel’s life story rights, but it was a story no publishing house or agent seemed to want. Hughes had been dead for nearly ten years and the probate trial was long over — and many people saw Melvin as a liar and buffoon.
As someone who used to see Melvin whenever he stopped in Nevada City to visit friends, I remain convinced that his story is true. He’s a good, decent person and if the “Mormon Will” was a forgery, it wasn’t Melvin who forged it. If he had written it, why did he spell his last name as “DuMar,” rather than “Dummar?”
Melvin said that during the ride back to Vegas, Hughes asked him several times what his name was, so it’s no surprise that when the holographic will was written a phonetic “DuMar” was put on the paper.
Maybe the Kinkade probate will be just as interesting as the Hughes probate? And while it may not involves billions of dollars, it does involve one heck of a lot of money. Sixty million? If you’re right, John, there will be two very rich women when the will estate is settled.
To my understanding a holographic will requires it to be “hand written” by the person, and it has to nullify any previous will if there’s one in existence. One can download detailed instructions for free, and it’s pretty simple, as long as you’re not “crazy” or lack capacity when you wrote it. And it doesn’t cost anything. Although I would guess it’s the hard way to go with a complex estate.
I also understand that because Kincaid’s divorce wasn’t final his wife automatically becomes the executor.