Mr. Television
06-07-2010, 07:49 PM
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b184613_gary_colemans_death_now_battle_of_wills.html
Gary Coleman's Death Now a Battle of the Wills
Today 4:02 PM PDT by Gina Serpe,
The trouble with Gary Coleman last will and testament is that nobody's quite sure about the "last" part.
A Utah attorney representing the executor of the actor's estate has one dating from 1999. Todd Bridges has a secret one, which may or may not be the same mysterious document allegedly written—but possibly voided—in 2007.
But only one is close to being filed. So which is it?
Ding, ding, ding—the will behind door No. 1. Salt Lake City attorney Kent Alderman tells E! News he will file Coleman's 1999 will in court sometime this week.
Said document lists Coleman's former manager (former as in long ago parted ways, not as in up until the actor's death) Dion Mial as executor of the estate—and therefore in line to collect a potential windfall for his travails in a trust fund.
Both Alderman and Mial insist the 1999 trumps a handwritten 2009 document that lists Shannon Price, who was then still married to Coleman, as the sole beneficiary.
"That will be declared null and void," Mial says in a statement to RadarOnline. "Certain criteria needs to be valid under Utah State statutory law and that will did not meet it, so it is null and void."
If you believe Alderman and Mial, the recently surfaced one-page codicil ceased to be relevant once the couple divorced, as they secretly did. Should they have remarried, as Price claims they intended to do, it would have reactivated. But they didn't, so it doesn't.
And, should his document be deemed official by the probate court, don't expect Mial to spare any dimes for Price.
He says her continuing media rounds and selling of deathbed photos of the actor are "ongoing desperate attempts to profit from the mysterious death of her 'beloved husband.' "
"Knowing Gary, as well as anyone could have, I assure his closest family, friends and fans that his disdain for this behavior would be unquestionable and paramount to any foregoing profession of 'love' for Shannon that might have ever poured from his lips."
Well don't hold back, Dion.
Price's rep has, of course, already dismissed Mial's comments or any claim to Coleman's estate, insisting that the actor had a falling out with Mial long ago and weren't friends at the time of his death.
"Shannon gave Dion the money to pay for his attorney," Price's rep Sheilia Erickson told E! News. "It was all the money Shannon had. She wanted to make sure that Gary's wishes were respected. Despite Shannon's health problems and dealing with the stress of losing her husband.
"Dion, who claims to be a good friend of Gary, would know that Gary's only wishes were to make sure that Shannon would be OK after he was gone. So if Dion was a good friend, he would be assisting Shannon, not taking all her money, to pay for his attorney and then use it to take everything from her."
And as for their supposed friendship…
"Gary made a statement about Dion less than 24 hours before he fell," Erickson said. "He said that he had not been friends with Dion for years. When asked why, Gary said, 'All good things come to an end.' Gary was stating that he had a falling out with Dion and did not wish to be close friends with him anymore. I can see why now by the way that Dion is also turning on Shannon as well."
And as for Shannon's sudden media ubiquity, Erickson said she's only doing so to defend herself against conspiracy theorists and rumormongers.
"Shannon has been on a few talk shows. She has to at some point stand up for herself with the onslaught of the media."
Coleman's funeral, originally scheduled to take place this weekend, has yet to be rescheduled, though Price told Good Morning America this morning that the actor wished to be cremated and did not want any kind of ceremony. According to Erickson, she's half right.
"That is Gary's wishes," she said of plans for cremation. "If we can, we would like to have some kind of a funeral, though."
Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b184613_gary_colemans_death_now_battle_of_wills.html#ixzz0qDKXawRM
Gary Coleman's Death Now a Battle of the Wills
Today 4:02 PM PDT by Gina Serpe,
The trouble with Gary Coleman last will and testament is that nobody's quite sure about the "last" part.
A Utah attorney representing the executor of the actor's estate has one dating from 1999. Todd Bridges has a secret one, which may or may not be the same mysterious document allegedly written—but possibly voided—in 2007.
But only one is close to being filed. So which is it?
Ding, ding, ding—the will behind door No. 1. Salt Lake City attorney Kent Alderman tells E! News he will file Coleman's 1999 will in court sometime this week.
Said document lists Coleman's former manager (former as in long ago parted ways, not as in up until the actor's death) Dion Mial as executor of the estate—and therefore in line to collect a potential windfall for his travails in a trust fund.
Both Alderman and Mial insist the 1999 trumps a handwritten 2009 document that lists Shannon Price, who was then still married to Coleman, as the sole beneficiary.
"That will be declared null and void," Mial says in a statement to RadarOnline. "Certain criteria needs to be valid under Utah State statutory law and that will did not meet it, so it is null and void."
If you believe Alderman and Mial, the recently surfaced one-page codicil ceased to be relevant once the couple divorced, as they secretly did. Should they have remarried, as Price claims they intended to do, it would have reactivated. But they didn't, so it doesn't.
And, should his document be deemed official by the probate court, don't expect Mial to spare any dimes for Price.
He says her continuing media rounds and selling of deathbed photos of the actor are "ongoing desperate attempts to profit from the mysterious death of her 'beloved husband.' "
"Knowing Gary, as well as anyone could have, I assure his closest family, friends and fans that his disdain for this behavior would be unquestionable and paramount to any foregoing profession of 'love' for Shannon that might have ever poured from his lips."
Well don't hold back, Dion.
Price's rep has, of course, already dismissed Mial's comments or any claim to Coleman's estate, insisting that the actor had a falling out with Mial long ago and weren't friends at the time of his death.
"Shannon gave Dion the money to pay for his attorney," Price's rep Sheilia Erickson told E! News. "It was all the money Shannon had. She wanted to make sure that Gary's wishes were respected. Despite Shannon's health problems and dealing with the stress of losing her husband.
"Dion, who claims to be a good friend of Gary, would know that Gary's only wishes were to make sure that Shannon would be OK after he was gone. So if Dion was a good friend, he would be assisting Shannon, not taking all her money, to pay for his attorney and then use it to take everything from her."
And as for their supposed friendship…
"Gary made a statement about Dion less than 24 hours before he fell," Erickson said. "He said that he had not been friends with Dion for years. When asked why, Gary said, 'All good things come to an end.' Gary was stating that he had a falling out with Dion and did not wish to be close friends with him anymore. I can see why now by the way that Dion is also turning on Shannon as well."
And as for Shannon's sudden media ubiquity, Erickson said she's only doing so to defend herself against conspiracy theorists and rumormongers.
"Shannon has been on a few talk shows. She has to at some point stand up for herself with the onslaught of the media."
Coleman's funeral, originally scheduled to take place this weekend, has yet to be rescheduled, though Price told Good Morning America this morning that the actor wished to be cremated and did not want any kind of ceremony. According to Erickson, she's half right.
"That is Gary's wishes," she said of plans for cremation. "If we can, we would like to have some kind of a funeral, though."
Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b184613_gary_colemans_death_now_battle_of_wills.html#ixzz0qDKXawRM