More on the Battle Over Thomas Kinkade’s Estate

There have been recent developments between Thomas Kinkade’s widow and his girlfriend in the battle over his estate. Thomas’s girlfriend, Amy Pinto-Walsh, has presented two handwritten notes indicating that Thomas bequeathed his Monte Sereno mansion to her and wanted her to have $10 million to turn part of the home into a museum of his paintings. 

The notes were written a month apart in 2011–one in November, and one in December. They were barely legible. Pinto-Walsh is asking that the court rule that the instructions in these letters should be carried out. She is also seeking legal authority to oversee $66.3 million from Thomas’s estate. Court documents from Pinto-Walsh’s lawyers paint a picture of Thomas and Amy completely in love, planning to marry as soon as his divorce was final. Nanette Kinkade, his widow, makes Pinto-Walsh out to be a gold-digger trying to take pieces of the estate away from the rightful heirs. 

A hearing is set for July 2 to determine whether the notes are authentic and should be carried out.

See Dispute Over Thomas Kinkade’s Will Heads to Court, Yahoo!News, June 13, 2012.

Special thanks to Craig M. Scalise (Attorney and Counselor at Law: Estate Planning, Probate, Special Needs Planning, Elder Law and author of the Estateplanning4all blog)  for bringing this article to my attention.