Two of Pat Bowlen’s Daughters Take Legal Action to Challenge Ownership Trust

The 2009 trust created by Pat Bowlen to ensure a succession plan for the ownership of his professional football franchise, the Denver Broncos, is now being attacked in court. Two of his daughters, Beth Bowlen Wallace and Amie Klemmer, are claiming the validity of the Patrick D. Bowlen Trust on the grounds that their father lacked the capacity to form the trust and that he was under undue influence at the time of its creation.

Essentially, the trustees choose one of Bowlen’s 7 children to control and run the team. It is widely believed that 29-year-old Brittany Bowlen unofficially has been selected by the trustees, and that it’s just a matter of time before the selection occurs. Previously, the court had dismissed an action by Bowlen’s brother brother – acting on behalf of Wallace and Klemmer – that questioned the authority of the three trustees who have managed the team since 2013.

Wallace and Klemmer claim that their father was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2006, three years before the creation of the trust, and that he no longer had the capacity to do so. The stakes are high for the daughters, though; they could end up being completely disinherited by fighting the trust. So they are putting their portions of their father’s estate on the line in order to challenge the current structure for determining control of the Broncos.

See Mike Florio, Two of Pat Bowlen’s Daughters Take Legal Action to Challenge Ownership Trust, Pro Football Talk-NBC Sports, September 13, 2019.

Special thanks to Jim Hartnett, Jr. (Dallas, Texas Probate Attorney) for bringing this article to my attention.