Alan Thicke. Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
Summary: Alan Thicke’s sons and third wife are fighting over his estate.
Alan Thicke, the star of Growing Pains, was a beloved TV dad who passed away last year at the age of 69. The successful actor left behind a trust that divided up his assets, but even with that document, his two oldest sons and third wife are gearing up for a legal battle over his estate. Possibly, the three of them didn’t subscribe to the Growing Pains’ motto, “As long as we got each other…”
Alan Thicke’s oldest sons, Brennan Thicke and Robin Thicke, are co-trustees of Alan’s living trust, and they want to stop their stepmom from trying to get more of their late father’s estate than what was bestowed to her. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two men have filed a petition in order to “honor the memory of their father, protect his legacy, and prevent his testamentary intentions from being undermined by avarice and overreaching of his third wife, Tanya Callau.”
Callau is Alan’s third wife and mother of his son Carter. She married Alan in 2005 and signed a prenuptial agreement, which the two Thickes said she is trying to fight.
“Now that Alan is dead, Tanya claims there are numerous problems with the Trust and the Prenuptial Agreement,” attorney Alex Weingarten stated in the Thicke brothers’ petition. “Tanya asserts that there is no chance the ‘Prenup’ could withstand legal challenge and that she has very significant community rights in the Trust’s assets and rights of reimbursement with respect to improvements to the Ranch. Tanya also claims ‘Marvin rights’ asserting that she had to forgo opportunities to pursue and advance her own career in order to support Alan and be his companion and partner, including raising Carter.”
Besides saying that their stepmom was greedy and “overreaching,” Brennan and Robin said that she was not entitled to the vast majority of Alan’s wealth because he had earned it before the couple had met.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Alan had left a detailed trust, outlining what to do after his death.
“In the trust, Thicke left each of his three children equal shares of a Carpinteria ranch, 75 percent of his personal effects and 60 percent of his remaining estate, according to the petition. He left Callau the ranch’s furnishings, 25 percent of his personal effects, a $500,000 life insurance policy, all of his death benefits from pensions and union memberships and 40 percent of his remaining estate. He also provided that she could live at the ranch, as long as she paid for its expenses and maintained the property,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote.
“Tanya Thicke has never threatened to take private family matters public and she never has,” Steisand said. “It is clear that Alan’s sons have chosen this distasteful public smear tactic to bully Tanya, by stirring up the tabloid media, filing a bogus lawsuit, and refusing family mediation. Tanya is still grieving the death of her beloved husband and out of respect for Alan’s memory intends to handle his son’s false statements privately.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter