Almost six months after beloved comedian Robin Williams died, his children and widow are now in a legal battle over his estate.
The tangle began just days before Christmas, when Williams’ widow Susan Schneider Williams filed legal papers in San Francisco. It centers on items in Williams’ homes, one in Napa, California and another in Tiburon. Williams was found dead of a suicide at the Tiburon home on Aug. 11. He was 63.
According to the New York Times, Schneider Williams, who married the Good Will Hunting star in 2011, and her layers listed items from Williams’ estate that she believes she is entitled to. The papers noted that property had already been taken from their home just days after Williams’ death.
Schneider Williams claims that since her husband died of a suicide, she hasn’t been “given time to grieve her loss free from the frenetic efforts to interfere with her domestic tranquillity.”
Williams’ three children from his prior marriages - Zak, Zelda and Cody - filed their response in January. The Hollywood Reporter notes that they claim that they were inventorying the property in line with the trust.
In addition, as THR notes, the two sides have come to different conclusions about what the trust says about who gets what property in which house. Schneider Williams claims that her husband wanted her to stay in Tiburon, since that’s where they spent their marriage. However, the children believe that they are not entitled to only “tangible personal property” in the Napa home, but also items in the other house that fit that bill.
“The Williams Children are heartbroken that Petitioner, Williams’ wife of less than three years, has acted against his wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate,” the children said in their filing. “While it is styled as a request for instruction, the Petition in fact appears to be a blatant attempt to alter the disposition of assets Mr. Williams specifically planned and provided for."
“We’re puzzled a little by the tone of the opposition," Schneider Williams' attorney, James Wagstaffe, told THR. "I’m hopeful that there’s a spirit of generosity in this."
A hearing is set for March 30 in Marin County Superior Court.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com
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