Robin Williams’ widow is locked in a bitter legal dispute with the actor’s children over his estate.
Susan Schneider Williams, who was married to the comedian for three years before his death, has filed a lawsuit against his three children in a disagreement over property left in his will.
Williams died at his northern California home in August aged 63. The coroner ruled his death a suicide.
Mrs Williams said the actor and comedian was struggling with depression, anxiety and a recent Parkinson's disease diagnosis when his personal assistant found him dead.
In his will, Williams stipulated how he wanted his £30 million fortune to be split up, but family members are now contesting it.
In papers filed in December in San Francisco Superior Court, Williams' wife has asked the court to exclude the contents of the £4.5 million home that she shared with Williams from the jewellery, memorabilia and other items Williams wanted the children to have.
She argues that as her husband wanted her to stay at their marital home in Tiburon, north of San Francisco, it follows that he intended only for his children to have the specific personal items he delineated that were kept at another home he owned in Napa, California.
"Any other interpretation would lead to Mrs Williams' home being stripped while Mrs Williams still lives there," her attorneys wrote.
Williams' trust granted his children his memorabilia and awards from his long career in the entertainment industry, according to court documents, including his 1998 Oscar for the movie Good Will Hunting.
Zak, 31, Zelda, 25, and Cody Williams, 22, counter that their stepmother, who was two teenage sons of her own, is attempting to redefine her late husband’s will.
The children acknowledge Mrs Williams has the right to keep items that she accumulated with her late husband during their marriage, but believe she is trying to alter some of the terms listed in the will.
They claim she is trying to “redefine the word jewellery” to keep a watch that belonged to Williams.
Mrs Williams also accuses the Mork and Mindy star’s children from two previous marriages of taking items from the home they shared after his death without her permission.
She asserts in the documents filed to the court that she lost “her husband through a shocking and emotionally charged event,” and had not been “given time to grieve her loss free from the frenetic efforts to interfere with her domestic tranquillity.”
Mrs Williams lawyer James Wagstaffe said Monday his client was only seeking guidance from the court about the meaning of certain terms in the trust.
"This is not ugly," he said. "I would not say this is anticipated to be a highly contested proceeding."
The comic’s children meanwhile accuse Mrs Williams of attempting to ignore the “plain language of his will and trust”.
They say they are “heartbroken”over her "greed" and that Mrs Williams has “acted against his wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate.” and are "adding insult to a terrible injury".
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